Redondo Beach Octopus

[carpent]

Hi all -

As planned, the now (in)famous GPO from the Redondo Beach dive site was returned home yesterday (Thursday the 26th). She was gently coaxed back into her den under the boat, and willingly took up residence. There was actually a one-clawed red rock crab there waiting for her, which she was happy to get to know well....The divers hung with her for about 20 minutes, and she seemed comfortable in her old home, having some comfort food.

Unfortunately, all of our underwater video equipment and most of the trained operators of said equipment are in Hawaii on a research trip. So I got the image below from the beach.

As some of you know, this animal met and mated with one of our male octopusus at the Aquarium - during her stay here she acquired the name "Pepper" - I couldn't get a real good reason for this out of the biologist who named her, but it is a cute name. So she should be fertile and looking to lay eggs. I don't know if this den site has been a good one for other animals to lay eggs - some of you may know this. If it is a good site, hopefully she will stick around and lay her eggs there.

I hope the regular divers there will check on her and report back as to her progress.

TC

[Pez7378]

I can just imagine Pepper waking up this morning and wondering... "What the Hell just happened?"

[Sockmonkey]

Sounds like a fantasy vacation to an underwater Las Vegas. An limo trip to a swanky octo penthouse suite where you're fed and well laid... ending with door to door service back to your house.

-Eric

[BigFameOne]

First of all, thanks for the report. Good to know Pepper is home and resting up after what must have felt like one hell of a slam, bam, thank you mam.....I certainly hope she does lay those eggs as I would love to see more Octos.




That said I am super proud to have made my way into the sigs of the two gents above me, both of whom I think highly of, an both of whom crack me up OFTEN.

[fmerkel]

Bob Bailey was involved with this issue from the start and brought it to the forum attention. He had a lot of interaction with Tim and had arranged for a few folks to 'witness' the replacement. Tim did contact me with the time. Since Bob was in Bonaire he asked me to coordinate this with Tim but unfortunately the people he picked were not available. I was planning on going since none of his designated divers could, but woke up to 3" of snow and live on a nasty hill so had to pass on it.

Just so folks know that the Aquarium made an honest attempt to be transparent about the relocation.

It will be interesting to see if "Pepper' chooses to stay in the old den and lay some eggs.

Fritz

[coachrenz]

I will be checking on her this evening.

[DiverBob]

Thanks for the report. I hope that she will stay in her den. If she stays, I'm sure we will see pictures soon. I do have a question. How long will it be before she will lay her eggs and how long for the eggs to hatch? Thanks.

[WylerBear]

Thanks for the report and thanks for returning Pepper (love the name!). Hopefully, she is none the worse for all the stress she must have experienced in transport. I'm not sure when I will dive Redondo next (perhaps this Sunday) but I will be happy to see her there (if she stays).

[Kalatin]

Thanks for the update. It made me smile this morning. Hopefully she sticks around and we get to see some Pepperocinis later this year.

[Penopolypants]

Thanks for the update. It made me smile this morning. Hopefully she sticks around and we get to see some Pepperocinis later this year.

Me too!

I'll be checking on her this weekend too.

[gcbryan]

Thanks for the report. I hope that she will stay in her den. If she stays, I'm sure we will see pictures soon. I do have a question. How long will it be before she will lay her eggs and how long for the eggs to hatch? Thanks.

The hatching period is in the 6-9 month range I believe. I don't know how long before the eggs are laid. I believe they have the ability to delay that until they are satisfied with their den and are fully nourished since they don't eat after laying the eggs. I also believe the have the ability to reject the sperm from a mating if a better specimen comes along!

[cardiver]

Thanks for the report. I hope that she will stay in her den. If she stays, I'm sure we will see pictures soon. I do have a question. How long will it be before she will lay her eggs and how long for the eggs to hatch? Thanks.

The hatching period is in the 6-9 month range I believe. I don't know how long before the eggs are laid. I believe they have the ability to delay that until they are satisfied with their den and are fully nourished since they don't eat after laying the eggs. I also believe the have the ability to reject the sperm from a mating if a better specimen comes along!

I bet a lot of women wish they could do that too!

[gcbryan]

Thanks for the report. I hope that she will stay in her den. If she stays, I'm sure we will see pictures soon. I do have a question. How long will it be before she will lay her eggs and how long for the eggs to hatch? Thanks.

The hatching period is in the 6-9 month range I believe. I don't know how long before the eggs are laid. I believe they have the ability to delay that until they are satisfied with their den and are fully nourished since they don't eat after laying the eggs. I also believe the have the ability to reject the sperm from a mating if a better specimen comes along!

I bet a lot of women wish they could do that too!

I'll bet a lot of men wish they could too!

[cardiver]

Thanks for the report. I hope that she will stay in her den. If she stays, I'm sure we will see pictures soon. I do have a question. How long will it be before she will lay her eggs and how long for the eggs to hatch? Thanks.

The hatching period is in the 6-9 month range I believe. I don't know how long before the eggs are laid. I believe they have the ability to delay that until they are satisfied with their den and are fully nourished since they don't eat after laying the eggs. I also believe the have the ability to reject the sperm from a mating if a better specimen comes along!

I bet a lot of women wish they could do that too!

I'll bet a lot of men wish they could too!

I don't think I'll touch that comment.......Doug?

[Dusty2]

Good show guys! thanks for the effort and hope it works out. We missed her.

[carpent]

In answer to some of the questions posed:

After mating, the female octopus can delay fertilization for up to a month - the spermataphores (the package the male reproductive cells are in when transferred from the male) are stored by the female until a suitable den is found, then she fertilizes the eggs as they are laid. From that point it is about 6 - 7 months before they hatch, depending on the surrounding temperature.

Again, hopefully she will find this den suitable - they usually need rocks or similar building blocks to close themselves off while laying the eggs. I am not sure if that area has what she needs or not - It'd be cool, though.

Also, some other folks had mentioned needing to contact the aquarium to report octopus sightings from the survey. Those of you who are still willing to do so - a huge THANK YOU for the trust. At this point, Roland Anderson, historically our primary contact, is retiring next week. Any more reports can be sent to me - tim.carpenter@seattle.gov. (not sure how to make that an active link....)

Thanks again for the support on this page. I would love to hear of reports on the ol' girl as she matures.

TC

[fmerkel]

Those kind of questions and the availability of a staff dedicated to education and information in the Marine world is one of the neatest things about volunteering at the Aquarium. Got a question, there are a half dozen Marine Biologist around that will gladly take the time to explain things to you. That IS what they are there for.

Fritz

[H20doctor]

Thank you seattle aquarium... And thank you for keeping your promise to return the GPO..

[coachrenz]

Yep. She's back. At least there is an octo where there was once one prior to Valentine's Day.

Pepper the Redondo Octopus

Another shot of Pepper

She appeared to be nicely denned up.

[Joshua Smith]

In answer to some of the questions posed:

After mating, the female octopus can delay fertilization for up to a month - the spermataphores (the package the male reproductive cells are in when transferred from the male) are stored by the female until a suitable den is found, then she fertilizes the eggs as they are laid. From that point it is about 6 - 7 months before they hatch, depending on the surrounding temperature.

Again, hopefully she will find this den suitable - they usually need rocks or similar building blocks to close themselves off while laying the eggs. I am not sure if that area has what she needs or not - It'd be cool, though.

Also, some other folks had mentioned needing to contact the aquarium to report octopus sightings from the survey. Those of you who are still willing to do so - a huge THANK YOU for the trust. At this point, Roland Anderson, historically our primary contact, is retiring next week. Any more reports can be sent to me - tim.carpenter@seattle.gov. (not sure how to make that an active link....)

Thanks again for the support on this page. I would love to hear of reports on the ol' girl as she matures.

TC

tim.carpenter@seattle.gov


Like so. Can I do anything else for you? We really appreciate the fact that you're reaching out to us- can I sticky a GPO thread for you, or something like that? Feel free to PM me, or respond here. Thanks again for communicating with us.

[coachrenz]

It has been over 48 hours and she is still there. This seems like really good news. Thanks for returning her.

[Grateful Diver]

I am DELIGHTED to hear about this. Yes, I had been planning to be there to photo the return of Pepper (I love that she acquired a name) ... but was in Bonaire at the time (got some great octo shots there too).

Thanks Tim ... I'll be heading down her way tomorrow to say "howdy" ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Grateful Diver]

Went down to check on Pepper this evening ... she's nicely tucked into her den. Looks like she's blocked off the entrance a bit, so she's harder to see ... smart mama, I think she's looking to make sure she doesn't get dug outta there again ... But she's been "home" for a few days now and doesn't show any sign of leaving, so that's a good thing.

I tried taking a few pictures ... but my camera's still set up for Bonaire "blue and bright", rather than Puget Sound "green and dark", and none of them came out very well.

Then I headed down to the bottle field to check on my lumpsucker buddies ... found one ... a bit more "animated" than usual, in fact ...



I found out how difficult it is trying to change manual settings on the fly in the dark while wearing drygloves ... and almost all my pics came out underexposed. Guess I'll have to go back and try it again tomorrow.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Tom Nic]

Bob you have got the Lumpsucker finding NAILED - I am in awe.

[Nwbrewer]

unexposed on digital camera's is often easy to fix in PS. Overexposed is harder.