Comments on: An Octopus in Antarctica: Do you recognize it?

By: Bunny

Bunny — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:48:50 +0000

Thank you Dr. Fry!

By: Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry

Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:28:28 +0000

Little hard to tell from the photo, but based on your description of size (most Antarctic occies are quite small), I’d say most likely Megaleledone setebos They get much larger than that

[img]http://www.venomdoc.com/photos/Bryan_Fry_with_Megaleledone_setebos.jpg[/img]

By: Cthulhus minion

Cthulhus minion — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:09:13 +0000

Folks over at tonmo should be able to id it. especially if Steve O’Shea happens to be lurking.

By: Bunny

Bunny — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 04:02:30 +0000

Katinkate, it’s not a squid. It is an octopus.

I’ve ruled out an octopus in a bunch of bananas and also the Pacific red octopus. The Southern Ocean is bounded by a convergence zone that acts as a barrier to species. Ralf has the best lead. The VenomDoc studies all species that use venom, including Antarctic octopus species, snakes, and more. He has a very extensive site. I hope he will be able to provide the species.

It’s not easy to tell from the photo, but this octopus is, at most, 2 feet long. AND very cute!

By: ambulocetacean

ambulocetacean — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 03:51:54 +0000

I suspect it’s just a common Pacific North-West tree octopus. Yes, it’s an arboreal species, but some tourists probably accidentally brought it down in a bunch of bananas or something.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 03:34:55 +0000

Have you considered the basic “Pacific red” octopus? Or ruled that one out?

By: Katkinkate

Katkinkate — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 02:54:18 +0000

There’s a species of squid with webbing between its arms that lives in deep water, the vampire squid . It could be this individual has been chased into shallow water, or it has become disoriented.

By: Bunny

Bunny — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:28:03 +0000

Thanks so much. I set up an account on venomdoc. As soon as it’s approved, I’ll see if someone can give me the species name.

By: Ralf Muschall

Ralf Muschall — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:21:04 +0000

On http://www.venomdoc.com/venomdoc/Cephalopoda.html, there are dozens of pictures of antarctic cephs, including a reddish, deeply webbed one. Unfortunately the pictures don’t have the species names.

By: Bunny

Bunny — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:27:09 +0000

Thanks for the suggestion. I actually read about those new creatures. However, this octopus didn’t look like that, at least in person. The one I saw is deeply webbed and the new one looks to have more gangly arms. I suspect that the octopus I saw has been in Antarctica all along, but not in this area. Maybe this one showing up in a new area has to do with climate change or a predator chasing it? Of course, I’ve only been to Antarctica once. But the expedition staff have been there as much as 40 times.