Our little Octopus!

Two months ago, I had an inquiry from a local university student about coldwater Atlantic octopus. This young woman is working on a PhD at the University of Maine and she was wondering if Gulf of Maine - Biological Supply, could help her source some live Octopus specimens. At the time I told her that in my 10 years of operation I had only been able to acquire 2 or 3 octopi. Therefore I was not overly optimistic about our ability to find these neat little mollusc specimens, but that we would give it a try.

The next day, I started to put the word out to my network of local divers and fishermen. Like me they mostly commented that they hadn't seen any octopus in a long time, but they would keep an eye out. In our bays, local fishermen dredge and dive the sea floor for sea scallops and sea urchins. By doing so they dislodge and scrape up a variety of species. It is in their interest to keep an eye out for the critters that put $$$ in their pockets - seafood. I, on the other hand on the lookout for ALL SPECIES. It is thrilling to witness the sheer variety of species that come up in each of the 'haulbacks' of their heavy steel bottom dredges. An interested collector like Tidepool Tim can find dozens of sea squirts, sponges, stars, sea cukes, lampshells, barnacles, crabs, seaweeds, fish, clams, and a million other species mixed in. Its like going to Toys-R.....Specimens-R-Us!!!

So the big news was this - I got a call and a fisherman came by with a beautiful little octopus! It was no bigger than the palm of my hand and its mantle the size of an egg. Fully live and squirming - I got to hold it in my hand beforeI transferred it to our tank. The fisherman got paid and we got our octopus - awesome!

Now this was a thrilling experience for me as I gently handled the little creature. I could feel the 8 arms touching my hands and those little suction cups pulling against my skin. The mantle of the octopus was pulsing and it's siphons opening and closing. I was a bit freaked out to hold it for long as I wondered if it could harm me. According to what I have read - all octopi are venomous! Very few are toxic to humans, but I did not want to take any chances. An octopus does not have any skeleton, but it does have a pretty serious 'beak' structure just like a squid. I did not want this little guy to be taking an interest in my palm flesh - and so plop! I got her right into our coldwater tank.

Once back in saltwater it was easy to see what a strong swimmer an octopus is. With pulses of her mantle and the directioning of her siphon this octopus could cook right along through the water! She pulsed perhaps 5 times across 6' of tank in seconds. Then opening her tentacles like a flower she plopped down on a scallop shell to rest. In seconds she curled up her tentacles like a birds nest and proceeded to blend into the surroundings. It was then that I really got a close up view of her skin and eyes. What a beauty she was - it appeared that she had blue mascara or eyeliner on. A blue eyed octopus ?

It turns out that her eyes were not blue it is just her eyelids - if that is what those structures called....? She did settle into our tank quite nicely and hung out for a few days before heading off to UMaine for her graduate work. I was able to feed her some bits of clam and snails, though I never actually saw her eating them. In the morning the food tidbits were cleaned up and so I assume she had eaten them.

So this was a first for old Tidepool Tim; and though I have never found an octopus in a Maine Tidepool - I suppose it is likely that they could be found there. Octopi are adept at camoflauge and masters of finding small crevasses for hiding places. Not only can they change the color of their skin pores to match the surroundings, their gelatinous bone free body allows them to stretch and squeeze themselves into the tiniest of spaces. Watching the ocean floor from these hide-outs allows them to avoid predators like a big Cod or Wolffish. Peeking out of their lair does allow them to see their prey species and quickly jet out to scarf up a passing crab, shrimp, or sandworm - yum!

Supplying Octopi is new for Gulf of Maine, Inc. This may not be a common occurrence, but we will do our best to support marine education, aquariums, and research. Our friend who is studying these little octopi at UMaine may someday be a famous "OCTOPOLOGIST" - who knows? For now we are thrilled to learn more about anothe coldwater marine species and to work with our local fishermen!

Early Morning Slipper Shell Tide Walk

Last month my son and I caught a great tide and were up before the sun to head out along the beaches in search of some periwinkle snails. He and his siblings had been making a good bit of money all summer picking snails for the local buyers. These are commonly known as 'Escargot' but locally known as 'rinkles'. Noone eats them here - they are trucked south to Boston and Providence to customers there. Call them what you want - our kids were making $10 - $30 for an hour or two of work picking snails at low tide on the beach in front of our house. Great work for them; they have to be up early, traipse across the mud, and bend their backs carrying the heavy pails of snails back to our yard. A great life lesson.

Back to our snail walk... it was a rather cold morning with a Northwest breeze blowing, but it did warm up quickly as the sun broke the horizon. The sun made for a great picture as it crested our local Osprey nest.

We quickly realized that another harvester had cleaned up all the snails along this particular beach - probably the day before. What we did not realize was that there would be such a great supply of Common Slipper Shells!

Slipper Shells are actually a kind of snail related to whelk snails and periwinkles. They are Molluscs and are in the class Gastropoda. In some places they are called 'Boat Shells'. They get their name from their shells. If you find one of their shells in the beach it has the unmistakeable look of a slipper! They have a rosy color on the topside but underneath you will find a creamy white - mother of pearl type coating. They are kind of pretty!

Slipper shells are filter feeders so they are not cruising around on the rocks like Periwinkles or Limpets - they avoid all that competition. On this particular beach they are using the great supply of old sea scallop shells as a place to live, feed, and of course breed! Since they have such a strong 'foot' they can stay in one place attached to a rock or a scallop shell while taking advantage of the tidal currents and the food that is carried to them. To feed they simply relax their foot, open a gap between the substrate and their shell and let that food enriched water feed them to their hearts content!

The most interesting thing about these little invertebrates is that they can change their sex from male to female to male and so on. They have a great system going for making new slipper shells (babies). Unlike some Molluscs that just shed eggs and sperm into the sea water in the hopes that they will mix and form embryos, the slipper shells actually mate. To do this, they need to be in close proximity. They form a 'pig-pile' - it is great fun for them. The most we have seen in a pile is 6 shells! The largest slipper shell is at the bottom and the smallest at the top - kinda like a snowman. The bottom shell in the pile is the female. Males will attach to a female or to some other substrate such as a rock or old scallop shell. In this case, the male will turn into a female and then secrete a chemical into the water to attract a male! If the female at the bottom of a stack dies then each successive slipper shell in the stack must change sex from male to female and vice versa. What a life!

So my son did not make any money on this morning, but we did have a great father-son hike on the beach. We found some huge Northern Sea Stars (Starfish) - 16" across like this:

Much to our surprise, we also found a big gelatinous gob of squid eggs attached to a rock right at the tideline! Great find!

There were some live Sea Scallops on the beach here and there. They are fun as they clap their shells and spit water sometimes. Our local bay grows some beautiful sea scallops. This is due to the fact that we have such huge tidal currents and nutrient rich waters supporting lots of plankton (scallop food). Scallop fishing season is during the winter and spring. Local boats will land 120 lbs of scallop meats each day - this is about 3 - 5 gallon pails of meats - wow!

Humans always like to learn about how particular species relate to people. I am not quite sure how a slipper shell affect us. In some places oyster farms consider slipper shells pests. They attach to the shells of oysters and compete with them for food. I personally have never tried eating a slipper shell - but it does make sense that they would be pretty tasty. I do eat snails, clams, oysters, mussels, and scallops so why not slipper shells? Maybe next time I get some I will give them a try!

If you want to find slipper shells on a beach walk or in a tidepool here is my advice. It will be best to do your collecting during spring tides. A slipper shell is essentially a 'sub-tidal' organism and it does not really want to be left high and dry by the receding waters. Look for slipper shells on the sides of rocks - not the top. They tend to be on the bottom of shells. They like to keep a low profile - out of sight out of mind - perhaps to prevent getting eaten...? Not sure.

If you are looking for some slipper shell specimens - give us a call at Gulf of Maine, Inc., www.gulfofme.com. We will collect you some fresh, live slipper shells and ship them out to you immediately. We are happy to get you the lab, classroom, and project samples you need, when you need them. Our biological supply company works hand in hand with some of the largest college biology programs, aquariums, and research institutes in the country!

Thanks for reading! I have not blogged in a while. With 4 kids, farm, business, and family stuff it makes it hard. Look forward to hearing from you - Tidepool Tim

See you out on the beaches.....:)