A slew of research papers, popular books , magazine articles , and nature documentaries celebrates their improbable intelligence a mollusk with a vertebrate-size brain and problem-solving ability!
In Seattle, the artists, writers, musicians, and scientists of the Cephalopod Appreciation Society gather each summer to celebrate octopuses and their squid and cuttlefish cousins in image, word, and song. And at aquariums around the world, octopuses are reliable crowd pleasers. Wood and other experts fear that too much enthusiasm may endanger two of the most dazzling and mediagenic, but little studied and potentially rare, species: the striped or wunderpus octopus discovered in the s and its cousin, the mimic octopus identified only in Wunderpus and mimic octopuses are the ultimate quick-change artists, hiding in plain sight by impersonating everything from rocks and seaweed to sea snakes and lionfish.
They quickly became the darlings of the nature programs. Demand in the U. One import of a mimic was recorded in , two in , and 30 in , the last year available. Even if that demand continued exponentially, it would be legal: None of the plus known species of octopus is listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora CITES , which regulates cross-border trade in wildlife, or the U.
This may reflect a lack of information—for example, in the case of the mimic octopus. Another celebrated octopus presents a different concern. All octopuses probably carry some venom, but only the various golf ball-size blue-ringed species , which range from southern Japan to Australia, are known to pack a lethal dose.
Their saliva contains the potent nerve toxin tetrodotoxin, the same compound that makes California newts, harlequin frogs, and fugu pufferfish liver so deadly. One blue ring can carry enough to kill 10 or more humans. Blue-ring bites occur each year in Australia, but timely, vigorous artificial respiration usually prevents fatalities; only three have been confirmed during the past century, none involving aquariums.
More blue-ring fatalities may go unidentified, however, because the bites are painless and the mode of death—respiratory paralysis—can be caused by other toxins and nerve, muscle, and lung conditions. Caldwell recounts a close escape. He had recruited his teenage daughter to help him scour reef samples for the mantis shrimp he was studying off Australia's Lizard Island. She felt "something soft and squishy" inside one rock oyster shell.
Rather than crawling for cover like most octopuses, [the octopus] reared up while pulling back her first two pair of arms [and] exposing her mouth. It was very clear to me that here was an octopus ready to bite This was a potentially lethal blue-ringed octopus that my unsuspecting daughter had handled just minutes earlier. Imports of blue rings to the U. Other vendors still offer them, even online. Ross is now with the Albright Laboratory, a coral-reef research and restoration facility affiliated with the aquarium.
Custom ordering also enables responsible vendors to evaluate purchasers and advise them about best practices. Any downturn also reflects the efforts of Wood and other experts to educate hobbyists and vendors about the costs and hazards of keeping these demanding super-mollusks.
In addition to their high prices and expensive diets—heavy on live crabs and shrimp— octopuses need large, escape-proof tanks with ample hiding places, unassailable fixtures to withstand their powerful arms and inquisitive tampering, and no fish or other companions they'll eat them. The purchase is also a short-term investment. Therefore it is unbelievably difficult to make them thrive let even stay alive. As well as sea dragons , squids are very fascinating and beautiful animals.
They can release ink into the water as an escape mechanism. They have long bodies, two tentacles and eight arms. All squids are predators and use a beak to cut their prey into small digestible pieces. But squids themselves are prey for sharks, sperm whales and other large predators. They are an important link in the food chain of the oceans.
While most squids can change their colors for camouflage, some are even bioluminescent. No wonder that people want to have such colorful fish as pets.
The family of cephalopods also contains species like cuttlefish and octopus. Especially the latter make significantly better pets. Some species are very rare and even experts have to search for weeks or months to discover one individual. Imagine what it would mean to the stock if divers catch all the rare squids.
These species would be on the edge of extinction rather soon. I carried together five facts that show how unsuitable aquarium tanks, no matter the size, are for these fish.
That means squids live in the open sea. You can imagine what that means for the tank size you would need. For many people the word squid conjures up images of tasty calamari rings, but a live squid can make an interesting pet. Squid are sensitive to water quality and have specific tank requirements as they are enthusiastic swimmers and have been known to jump out of tanks.
This combined with the facts that they are relatively short-lived and are likely to eat any tank mates make them a challenging and exotic pet. There are dozens of different squid species. Pygmy squid are only around a half inch long while giant squid can be over 32 feet long.
Smaller species only live for about six months, the majority of species live around 18 months, and even giant squids only live for three to five years, despite their size. This means they do not live as long as most fish species so it is good to know what species of squid you have so that you can look up its life expectancy.
A large tank is best for squid as they like to swim quickly. The seawater temperature should be between 50 and 65 degrees; the water should be well-oxygenated and circulated to form a current.
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