Oktapodi: Animated Short Film

Check out this very cute short film!


Oktapodi is a 2007 French computer-animated short film that originated as a Graduate Student Project from Gobelins L'Ecole de L'Image. The short is about a pair of love struck octopuses who through a series of comical events are separated and find each other. Oktapodi was directed by Julien Bocabeille, François-Xavier Chanioux, Olivier Delabarre, Thierry Marchand, Quentin Marmier, and Emud Mokhberi. Music was composed by Kenny Wood.

Oktapodi was well received, winning a number of awards, as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Short Film (Animated) for the 81st Academy Awards.

Species: Octopus Wolfi, The World's Smallest Octopus

Female Octopus Wolfi.
Facts about the Octopus Wolfi:

• The world's smallest known octopus is the Octopus Wolfi. It was discovered and officially classified in 1913.
  
  
• The Octopus Wolfi measures only 1.5 cm in length!
  
  
• These tiny octopuses are found in the Indo-Pacific Ocean
  
  
• A full grown Octopus Wolfi weighs less than a gram.
  
  
• There is still a lot to be learned about the octopus Wolfi, although it has been noted that the males have fringe-like rims on their suckers, an uncommon trait.

Octopus Necklace on Etsy.com

Check out this cute black octopus necklace. I love that it's black - haven't seen many items like this, and of course, black goes with everything. It's made by Etsy.com seller, LanieBeth. She has lots of cute stuff, including an octopus print that this necklace was based on.



Product Description:
This is an octopus based off my print, also sold in my store. Originally he is holding balloons but the string for the balloons is too thin to cut. So here he is lonely! Give him a loving home and pair him up with some other cute necklaces. He is 1 1/2" tall and 3" wide. Comes on a 14" silver chain. Thanks for looking, dolls.

Pictures of Blue Ringed Octopus

Who doesn't love a little Blue Ringed Octopus action? Here are some cool pictures I found of the pint-sized killers:







For more information on the Blue-Ringed Octopus, visit our earlier post, Species: Blue-Ringed Octopus.

Octopus Shower Caddy.

If you're an octopus lover like myself, you want to see those little eight armed cuties around your house, office, car, computer, heck - just about anywhere. Well, here's one for the bathroom. Check out this nifty octopus shower caddy I found on UpToYouTornoto.com:



Octopus Shower Caddy Product Description:
Not enough hands? Then hook the indispensable octopus in your shower. This octopus can be fastened to the bathtub armature while the rest of his arms are free to hold shampoo bottles, shower gels and other accessories. One hangs up the bottles simply in the flexible loops at the end of each of the arms. Available in blue and black. Specify preferred colour during checkout in comment area.

Cool, huh?

Funny Cyanea Octopus vs. Egret Video

The Cyanea Octopus seems to like its solitary life, and will use its unique ink power to keep it that way!

Watch what this sneaky Cyanea Octopus does to keep the moseying Egret out of its territory.

Sexual Cannibalism Documented Among Cyanea Octopuses

From: Informaworld.com, March 2008

Written By: Roger T. Hanlon and John W. Forsythe

Sexual cannibalism is rare in the animal kingdom. Although cannibalism is not uncommon in cephalopods, here we report the first documented case of sexual cannibalism. A large female Octopus cyanea was observed continuously for 2.5 days in Palau, Micronesia, when she was out of her den. On the second day, a small male followed and mated her 13 times during 3.5 hours while she continued to forage over 70 m distance. After the 12th mating, she aggressively chased a different small octopus that barely escaped by jetting, inking and swimming upwards. Shortly thereafter, the original small male mated her a 13th time, but subsequently she attacked and suffocated him and spent 2 days cannibalizing him in her den. This sort of intraspecific aggression helps to explain several reports of octopuses mating out in the open, a behaviour that may serve to allow the smaller mate to escape cannibalism.

Talk about a "maneater"!

Species: Cyanea Octopus, Part II

Here are more fascinating facts about the Cyanea Octopus:

• Unlike most octopuses, the Cyanea Octopus feeds during daylight hours. Its prey includes fish, crabs, shrimp and bivalve mollusks such as clams, oysters, and scallops.
  
  
• Camouflage is not only a handy tool for the Cyanea Octopus, it is also a necessary survival tool, as this octopus is preyed upon by sharks, moray eels, and Hawaiian monk seals.
  
  
• Courtship behavior of the Day octopus begins as the male displays coloring of dark brown with white spots and slowly approaches the female, who is typically in full camouflage. Males have a long modified third right arm that they hold in an upright coiled position and wave toward the female. If the female is receptive to the signaling male, he inserts his arm into the female's oviducts to pass spermatophores from arm's length.
  
  
• The male may keep his distance to avoid the risk of being eaten by the female, a behavior that has been observed in the wild after mating.
  
  
• Female Cyanea Otopuses lay their eggs strategically in a hard-to-reach space within their lairs. Once the eggs hatch into planktonic juveniles, they feed on zooplankton during the early stages of development.
  
  

Species: Cyanea Octopus, Part I

The Cyanea Octopus, otherwise known as the Day Octopus or Big Blue Octopus, is a fascinating little creature! here are some key facts about the Cyanea Octopus:

• The Cyanea Octopus can be found in both the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean from Hawaii to the eastern coast of Africa.
  
  
• This cephalopod growsto have a body approximately 16 cm and arms at least 80 cm.
  
  
• When at rest, the Cyanea Octopus is brown in color, however they have the ability to rapidly change the color and texture of their skin to blend into their surroundings as a defense mechanism.
  
  
• A characteristic feature of the Cyanea Octopus is their dark oval false-eye spots. These spots are present at the base of its arms and on the tips of its arms along with 2 rows of lighter spots. The dark eye-spots are only sometimes visible, as this octopus can change its appearance at will.
  
  
• Cyanea Octopuses feed in daylight hours. Because of this, their camouflage skills are considered "exceptional" among the many species of octopuses.
  
  
• The Cyanea octopus's complex brain sends nervous impulses to their muscles causing them to change appearances almost instantly as they move over sand, coral, rubble and other surfaces. One Day octopus was observed by octopus biologist Roger Hanlon changing patterns 1,000 times over a 7 hour period off the coast of Hawaii!
  
  
• This octopus excavates lairs in coral reefs and associated rubble which can be located by identifying "middens" outside the lair entrance which are typically the empty shells of bivalves and crabs which it has preyed upon.