I love Octos

[airsix]

There. I said it. I love Octopus. So to lighten things up around here (we need it) I'm going to start this thread about why Octos are are the coolest critters ever... So cool in fact that if you like them you're cool by association. Yes, their cool is that powerful. It is rumored that both Fonzie and Chuck Norris derive their powers of cool from the Octopus, but that's another story. This thread is just about Octopus.

So, please join in and share your Octopus stories, insight, observations, rumors, etc.

I'll start off with these two bits:
1. The use of Octopi as the plural of Octopus is incorrect because Octopus is greek (meaning: eight foot), but the use of 'i' for pluralization comes from latin. Using Latin conjugation on Greek words apparently annoys the word police. Using correct Greek conjugation you would get "Octopodes" which I doubt is going to get very far. Oh well. Maybe I should start saying 'Octopodes' just to bug people.

2. When I was reading about the above I also ran across some aquarists discussing octopus husbandry (yes, I am having fun with this post.) and the many challenges involved in having an 8-legged genius carnivore as a pet. The most interesting thing they discussed was what they call "Shopping trips". This is where the smartest of their Octopodes (grin) would escape at night, make their way to other tanks, harvest some fish, mollusks, or crustaceans, and then return to their own tank (usually through a very tiny hole or by opening the lid of the tank (to get out AND in). Fascinating, isn't it?

Your turn.

-Ben

[Tom Nic]

My name is Tom, and I love Octopuses as well. There. I said it too!

Theoretically, Octopodes are "as smart as your average house-cat".

My cat is real idiot so either Ocotopotipodes are really dumb, or lots smarter than my cat... I'll go for the latter!

[Burntchef]

ive had friends who had a octo in there reef tank, you have to litterally bolt down a plexi lid with no holes, pretty hard to do considering you need slots for all the equipment to maintain a reef tank.

octos are way cool and i just dont get the whole eating them thing, zeroe flavor so it must be a cool thing to do.

[spatman]

hi, my name is spat and i love octos too.

my octo story is a sad one though, and brief.

i haven't seen one yet!! over 30 dives in the PNW, and no octo!

well, actually the last time i was at redondo, i could have sworn i saw part of an octo's head and eye looking out from under a tire, but when i got a little closer, it disappeared. i motioned divernick over, but there was nothing to see. he looked at me like i was narked...

maybe this weekend i can end the dry streak.

[Ken G]

I was telling my wife yesterday that I am giving up eating Octo's. No more Tako for me. I get more out of seeing them diving than I do munchin on them

[airsix]

hi, my name is spat and i love octos too.
my octo story is a sad one though, and brief.
i haven't seen one yet!! over 30 dives in the PNW, and no octo!

Do not dispair! You'll see them. I had between 15-20 Puget Sound/San Jaun dives under my belt before I saw my first. What changed? I got on Bandito's boat with Rick and suddenly I was seeing Octos everywhere. Money can't buy you love, but apparently it can buy you Octo sightings. And it's kind of a catch 22. Once you start seeing them you know what to look for, but you don't know what to look for until you've seen a few. I expect that I'll start seeing more now that I've started seeing them. Does that make sense?

-Ben

[Ken G]

When I lived in Thailand I was diving about 5 days a week for over 2 years. I did not see an Octo the entire first year I was there. One day I finally found one. Then another, and another and so on. From that point on I was averaging about 5-10 sitings per dive. I just needed to know where to look then they were everywhere.

I especially like the Wonderpuss and the Mimic Octopus (note the avatar). They are known to take on the shape and behavior of other animals to avoid predators. Very smart critters

[spatman]

Do not dispair! You'll see them. I had between 15-20 Puget Sound/San Jaun dives under my belt before I saw my first. What changed? I got on Bandito's boat with Rick and suddenly I was seeing Octos everywhere. Money can't buy you love, but apparently it can buy you Octo sightings. And it's kind of a catch 22. Once you start seeing them you know what to look for, but you don't know what to look for until you've seen a few. I expect that I'll start seeing more now that I've started seeing them. Does that make sense?

Bandito, here i come!

that makes perfect sense, though. i see a little more with each dive. it's only a matter of time...

[Jan K]

You mean there are divers who don't like octos ?

[Sounder]

My name is Doug, and I'm an Octoholic.

My record for GPOs on one dive was 8 (and they were all monsters!)... that was one of the best dives I've ever done because along with the 8 monster GPOs, we also saw what was probably twice as many wolfies. LOTS of other cool stuff too... one of the best dives I've ever had.

...oh yeah, and one HUGE Lion's Mane jelly at the end.

[Zen Diver]

If you want to see octos dive Redondo at night. You'll find lots of little ones on walkabout. If you putter in the bottle field you'll find lots of tiny ones hiding inside their glass homes, peeking out as you go by.

-Valerie

[WylerBear]

My name is Georgia & I love octopi and octopuses.

I have been told that one of the two-octopi or octopuses, I forget which is which-is the plural of the same species and one is the plural when you have more than one type of octopus. Is this not correct? Does anyone really know?

I've seen many octop(i)-(uses) over my years of diving and it's always a treat whether it's a nice, big GPO or the tiniest of reds. Not to mention the tropical varieties.

[Scubak]

Ooooh!!!!
My name is Kirsten and I LOVE OCTOPUS!!!!!
Whether small or large, GPO or Red or tropical varieties. I just love them. They are by far my favorite critter. I can just stop and watch one all during the dive (even if they are in their den sleeping) and never go anywhere else...
So...who is going to do the Octo Count this year?
K

[dlh]

I was telling my wife yesterday that I am giving up eating Octo's. No more Tako for me. I get more out of seeing them diving than I do munchin on them

Octo's are too smart, freindly, and just plain cool to be considered as an acceptable appetizer!

Really now, could you eat this guy?

A couple years ago at Day Island:

[WylerBear]

Dave,
What an amazing photo! Very nice!

[gcbryan]

GPO's are intellegent but that's intellegent for a mollusk! I think Roland Anderson of the Seattle Aquarium considers them to be intellegent along the lines of a mouse.

It's true that they can and will get out of a tank if given half a chance but they don't always get back in. The Aquarium lost one last year this way. It got out once and someone saw it in time and it survived. A few weeks later it tried the same trick at night and didn't survive.

I've seen less GPO's in the last 2 years than in previous years. Have anyone of you noticed less GPO's in the last 2 years?

[Pez7378]

Octo...... (pi) (pusses) (podes) have got to be HANDS DOWN my all time favorite underwater creature ever to see while diving. And I dive with Joe, which is rather entertaining to watch.

Everytime we see one, it stops us dead in our tracks and we just watch it do what it does. It's kinda like lighting a match in front of a Pyro! You just can't help but watch it until it's gone.

[LCF]

My name is Lynne, and I'm an octaholic, too. It's the eyes, I think, that get me.

One of the very finest dives I've done in Puget Sound was a night training dive in Cove 2 (so nobody had a camera). We were touring around prior to starting ascent drills, and Doug spotted an octo under the Honey Bear. He signaled, and I went and looked and at first didn't realize what I was seeing. There's something there, but what? Is that an octopus? Omigod, that's ALL octopus!

At which moment said octopus had had enough of 21W HID lights shining in his bedroom, and came slithering out . . . directly under me. This animal was bigger in diameter than my outstretched arms, and the mantle was the size of a basketball. It was by far and away the biggest octo I had ever seen out in the open, and it was about three feet below me, and had the most irritated glare. I was so excited, I was squeaking through my regulator, and pointing with BOTH hands at this creature below me, as though any of the three other divers was unaware of it. If it is possible to bounce up and down while horizontal and in good trim, I was doing it I was still bubbling when we surfaced, twenty minutes later, and if I remember correctly, the first words out of my mouth were the nonsensical question, "Did you guys see that OCTOPUS????"

I dream of the day I encounter one which is curious enough to interact. Honestly, a sociable octopus would make me take my dryglove off to say hello, and almost nothing else I can think of would.

[Pez7378]

Yeah, I've never been that excited to see Joe.

[nwscubamom]

Wow, great stories and so nice to see so many of you Octoholics!

Dr. Roland Anderson, who is considered by many to be THE authority on the Giant Pacific Octopus, and who does much research and heads up the Annual Seattle Aquarium Octo census (see other thread in this forum) says it is:
OCTOPUSSES for the plural. Not Octopi.

I used to hear that it could be either / or, but now it seems that Octopusses is the correct usage. OK then! Still sounds cool!

My grandson (3 years old) is WAY into GPO's and always wants to sit in my lap at my computer, requesting that I show him my Octopus photos along with the "Scuba Drivers". His favorite photo is of Valerie (well, MOST of Valerie) peering over a GPO sitting out in the open on top of the Pinnacle at Hood Canal.

He also requests to see the video that Joe Diver put out a few years back that has a special section about Olive (remember Olive?) and her babies.

I ate octopus ONCE. (before I learned to dive and became buddies with them). It is disgusting, rubbery, and something about suction cups in my mouth just doesn't bode well. YUCK.

That's it for now!

I'm up in the San Juans right now, sitting in the library on Lopez, (wireliess internet access here) and a huge storm is rolling in for the night and most of tomorrow...no diving this trip!

- Janna

[airsix]

Yeah, I've never been that excited to see Joe.

Yes! That is the kind of deadpan humor we need! THANK YOU! No more fighting - just jokes and great conversations.

Its a good thing I'm not drinking anything right now because it would be coming out of my nose.

Please keep the octopus chatter going.

-Ben

[Cold_H2O]

I also love them.... nothing in Puget Sound is as cool...
Except maybe the Wolfies....

I like watching them breath...
Can hang out in front of the den for minutes at a time ~ just watching.
Get really excited when they are out and moving.

I am getting my first tattoo finished up on the 12th....
You guessed it... Its of a GPO.....

Wylerbear ~ I will email a pic when its finally finished.
I love yours... We can compair next time we go diving.

[Grateful Diver]

My first and most memorable octopus encounter was Olive ... the "mama" octopus who so captured the hearts of so many divers in 2002 that more than five years after her death everyone still refers to the deep set of dolphins in Cove 2 as "Olive's den".

I agree with Gray ... for some reason I've seen less octopus than I used to, especially at Cove 2.

I've had some memorable encounters, most notably one in Barkley Sound with a large (perhaps 10-footer) one who really interacted with our little group of divers ... stretching out arm after arm to "taste" each diver. At one point all four of us were being "fondled" by the beast. At the time I was wearing wet gloves, and had removed them ... and that was my first experience at finding out what octopus suckers feel like (strange, to say the least).

A few of my favorite octopus shots ...

[Jan K]

Bob, they are awesome !

[Zen Diver]

Here's some of my faves...





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