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Tracking Giant Pacific Octopuses in Alaska
Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 8:06 am
by John Rawlings
Another cool photo article from the BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/17561456
I particularly liked the fact that the previously believed "range" of a hunting GPO has been expanded. Previously thought to be 250 sq meters, they found that large GPOs hunted over an area around 50,000 sq meters! That's quite a huge change!
- John
Re: Tracking Giant Pacific Octopuses in Alaska
Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 11:22 pm
by morayeel
This article is so cool!! Thank you for posting it. In addition to the expansion of hunting range, I also like the fact they stay hiding 94% of the day. That means if you see an octopus open, you are very lucky.
Re: Tracking Giant Pacific Octopuses in Alaska
Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 7:32 am
by Tidepool Geek
Greetings,
The study shown in this article is essentially a confirmation of one done about 20 years ago at Saanich Inlet by Jennifer Mather and NWDC forum member Jim Cosgrove. You can read about this and other studies in Jim's book "Super Suckers" and the original papers may be obtainable by doing a Google Scholar search on "JA Mather".
The Mather and Scheel studies seem to have generated very similar results - Saanich GPO's appear to have a slightly larger hunting range than do PWS residents which may have to do with the size of the animals (repotedly, Puget Sound GPO's get bigger than Alaskan GPO's)
Confirmationally yours,
Alex
Re: Tracking Giant Pacific Octopuses in Alaska
Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 7:35 am
by johndo88
Am I doing the math right. 50,000 sq m is about 31 square miles?
Re: Tracking Giant Pacific Octopuses in Alaska
Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 12:45 pm
by Greg Jensen
No, it's about 0.02 square miles- if it were square, it would be 733.6 ft on a side.
Also note the original estimate was 250 square meters, not 25 as stated in the first post.
Re: Tracking Giant Pacific Octopuses in Alaska
Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 1:58 pm
by KneeDeep
looks like I might be doing some dives between of 01:00 and 04:00... you know, for science.
Re: Tracking Giant Pacific Octopuses in Alaska
Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 6:26 pm
by John Rawlings
Greg Jensen wrote:No, it's about 0.02 square miles- if it were square, it would be 733.6 ft on a side.
Also note the original estimate was 250 square meters, not 25 as stated in the first post.
Thanks, Greg!
You're absolutely correct. I obviously missed a digit when I was typing, and I've corrected the original post so that there will be no confusion if/when anyone else reads it.
- John
Re: Tracking Giant Pacific Octopuses in Alaska
Posted: Sun Jun 02, 2013 7:24 pm
by edofleini
Hello John: In a recent study by David Sheel in Alaska he has some evidence that suggests that there may be a second species that is very similar to the GPO but is unidentified as yet. That may put a wrinkle in our understanding of this animal if it turns out to be a complex like O. vulgaris. Science is such fun!
Jim Cosgrove