Octopus briareus photos and videos

[corpusse]

I've had this guy a little over 3 months. He was just a baby when I got him and a total recluse. I did not see him at all during the first month. Checked the tank with a red flashlight day night morning whatever. He was never around.

I tore the tank down thinking he was dead and he crawled out of the rock. Back into the tank he went.

Over the next couple of months I started to see him a bit more. Usually if I starve him for 3-4 days he will be out in the morning exploring, or sometimes late at night. I feed him a combination of live fiddler crabs as well as grocery store shrimp on a stick. He readily accepts the food on a stick it's just a matter of getting him to actually pull it off. Once he wants it a tug of war ensues.

Here's a video I got earlier. It's grainy but the tank lights are off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wll7oXDryXo

This morning he was out and I managed to get lots of good photographs. Then much to my surprise I went back downstairs and he was out again with the lights on! first time ever!! I attribute this to the fact my timer stalled yesterday and when I restarted it I set it to go on earlier by accident.


First the night set :

The first few were taken at iso 1600 and relatively slow shutter speeds. I still increased the brightness and lowered the contrast to get a bit more light. The rest are with flash. Flash doesn't bother him much which is strange since he's so afraid of the tank lights being on.

Arms fully stretched he's about 20"







I like that one a lot even though it's dark. The room's tracklighting makes it appear the sun is rising.









I will upload the day set and a video shortly..