Cephalopod Specialist Brian Siegel is once again tending to some eight-tentacled babies behind the scenes in The Aquarium at Mote Marine Laboratory.<\/p>\n
You may remember hearing about the tiny Caribbean pygmy octopuses (Octopus mercatoris)\u00a0Siegel was raising in March when pictures of one of them \u201cdancing\u201d on a pencil eraser captured the public\u2019s attention (garnering mentions all over the place, including\u00a0Scientific American\u00a0and NBC’s\u00a0TODAY\u00a0show).<\/p>\n
This time, he\u2019s raising a different \u2014 but only slightly larger \u2014 species called a Caribbean reef octopus (Octopus\u00a0briareus). So far, Siegel has had 16 eggs hatch, with more expected from mom, who\u2019s still brooding over them.<\/p>\n
At\u00a0about the size of a dime,\u00a0O. briareus\u00a0is slightly larger at hatch than\u00a0O. mercatoris. The adults are bigger, too \u2014\u00a0briareusgrows to about the size of a baseball, but\u00a0mercatoris\u00a0is only about the size of a golf ball. Babies of both species are fully formed when they hatch and don\u2019t receive any additional tending-to from mom.<\/p>\n
Both species are nocturnal and favor reefs and rocky outcroppings where they can safely stay out of the way of the many things in the ocean that are bigger and brawnier than they are \u2014 sharks are among the animals that prey on them. Both prey on small bottom-dwelling vertebrates (like small crabs and shrimp.)<\/p>\n
Octopuses are also masters of disguise \u2014 both these species have special cells in their skin called chromatophores that allow them to change their color and texture.\u00a0Because they’re so cryptic, neither species will be on display in The Aquarium anytime soon (we have to develop a new way to showcase these animals, which prefer to stay hidden and can fit into some very small spaces).<\/p>\n
In the meantime, we invite you to visit our special exhibit,\u00a0Survivors: Beautiful and Extreme Adaptations,\u00a0where we are featuring a blue-ringed octopus and the flamboyant cuttlefish, which also have chromatophores and can change colors at will.Survivors\u00a0is open through Sept. 14 and is free with regular admission (ticket prices at\u00a0www.mote.org\/visit).<\/p>\n
Octopuses or octopi: One more tidbit for the word nerds among us\u2026<\/p>\n
The plural of octopus is octopuses.\u00a0 That\u2019s because the word \u201coctopus\u201d comes from the Greek word \u201coctopous.\u201d The mistake that some folks make is that they think the word\u2019s origin is Latin \u2014 in which case, the plural really would be with an \u201ci,\u201d making it octopi.<\/p>\n
Sources: Webster\u2019s New World Dictionary, Oxford English Dictionary, Fowler\u2019s Modern English Usage. For the record, Webster\u2019s gives \u201coctopi\u201d as the second choice for the plural and \u201coctopodes\u201d(which is the plural of the Greek word octopous) as the third choice, but \u201coctopuses\u201d is the preferred choice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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