Midget Octopus

Discuss natural history subjects not strictly related to birds. Reports of interesting mammal, reptile, and invertebrate sightings are welcome.
Pat Miller
Posts: 218
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2012 9:36 am

Midget Octopus

Postby Pat Miller » Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:52 pm

Hi Folks,
Not as exciting as the recent Canterbury Storm Seabird event, but this little octopus in the trumpet shell was an interesting find on Uretiti Beach on Northland's East Coast on Sunday 30 May.download/file.php?mode=view&id=10339https://www.birdingnz.net/forum/download/file.php?mode=view&id=10338https://www.birdingnz.net/forum/download/file.php?mode=view&id=10337

I've referred to the Collins "Field Guide to the NZ Seashore" by Sally Carson & Rod Morris and I think it is a Midget Octopus Octopus hutton i. Looks like the bottom photo on the page for that species and was the right size and with arms uneven in length as stated. It was still alive, so I washed it, took these photos and put it back in the sea (In its shell, but it left it after being tumbled in the waves).
IMG20210530125445.jpg
IMG20210530125445.jpg (1.15 MiB) Viewed 2468 times
IMG20210530125334.jpg
IMG20210530125334.jpg (1.31 MiB) Viewed 2468 times
IMG20210530125142.jpg
IMG20210530125142.jpg (1.23 MiB) Viewed 2468 times
Raewyn
Posts: 127
Joined: Thu Nov 06, 2014 7:38 pm
Location: Te Puke
Contact:

Re: Midget Octopus

Postby Raewyn » Fri Jun 04, 2021 9:00 am

Thanks for posting this. My limited experience of midget octopus is that they have a distinct way of curling their arms. Your second photo appears to show a slight indication of this on two arms. It's reassuring that it took off when you put it into the water so hopefully it was OK.

Return to “Other Natural History”