Can we keep her?

This afternoon while Jonathan, the Americorps and I were busy cleaning the Marine Exhibit, Cheqa ran in and asked us, "Do you guys want to see a big octopus?" So, of course, we all ran out excitedly to the dock. In one of his fish traps he had caught a big, 3-foot Giant Pacific Octopus! We put it in a bucket in hopes that Chrissy would let us keep her, at least for a little while.



In this photo she is still hiding in her bucket after we got the round tank ready for her. Pinky was curious and went to go have a look at her new friend. It took us a while to "octopus-proof" the round tank. We had to remove all the large fish and make sure she couldn't slip out the outflow tube. We fashioned a little mesh cap to put over the outflow tube so she couldn't get in there. Octopuses are extremely strong, so we had to put zip-ties around the mesh cap to make sure she couldn't pull it off!

Here she is, sitting happily in her new tank.

We determined that she is a girl, because we don't see any obvious signs on the hectocotyl tentacle, which is the third right tentacle. Males also have this arm shorter than the others.

Now we have two octopuses to name! Be sure to come see her soon in the Marine Exhibit!

Your friendly cephalopod lover,

Angela