Wunderpus Endangered? AKA Long Beach Aquarium has got some Explaining to do!

[Msby12]

i went to the Long Beach Aquarium (Aquarium of the Pacific) today and noticed a "Wunderpus" in what seemed to be a FIVE GALLON tank! i know they have a huge filtration system at the aquarium, but five gallons seems too small to keep an octopus like that! it was sitting in the corner and it's stripes seemed very pale...

PS: I heard Mimics are endangered, but what about Wunderpus?

[Gonodactylus]

They certainly are not common, but we just don't have enough information to say whether they are endangered. Certainly their numbers seem to flucuate, but in any given area dive guides never seem to be able to locate more than a few and at times none at all. Part of this may be due to the fact that Wunderpus is crepuscular and is only out foraging for a short time each day. I do think it fair to say that the habitats in which they are found (muck) is generally being impacted by human activity which cannot be good news for Wunderpus, the Mimic, or any of the several other octopus found in these locations.

To properly house a Wunderpus, it should be able to burrow.

Roy

[mucktopus]

Both mimics and Wunderpus are hard to find, and we still don't have a handle on the seasonal fluctuations in their numbers, so estimating their populations and detecting trends is difficult. I've been diving in Lembeh since 2000 and have seen large fluctuations in the muck community (including Mimic and Wunderpus populations) which may result from local trawling, over-collecting, or natural cycles. Even during their boom times these animals have been hard to find and their numbers appear relatively low compared to many other octos species I've seen. Their (likely) low numbers, short life spans, and semelparous life history would make them vulnerable to over-collecting.

[Msby12]

well it did seem to have live rock to hide in, but the paleness worried me, it's very unfortunate that they seem to be decreasing in numbers...

[mucktopus]

They live in deep sand. They forage on live rock for food, but it provides them no useful habitat.

[zeuss zoso]

Last time I went it looked like a stingray.

[JHemdal]

Mucktopus,

I think you nailed it when your wrote: "Both mimics and Wunderpus are hard to find". This does not always equate to "rare". I read a blurb on a National Geographic web site that said the reason people think that mimics are rare is that they look for them in sand/muck habitats near reefs, and their peak density is actually in brackish estuaries where nobody dives, or if you did, the visibility would be too poor to see them. Don't know if this is true or not, just offering it out there, FWIW.
Brackish octopus? I don't know. Besides, if the vis is so poor, why would the animal rely on Batesian (or is it Mullerian?) mimicry?

Msby 12 - the pale coloration is just how they look when they are not in their aposematic color mode. Also, I haven't seen that particular exhibit, but I don't recall seeing any five gallon exhibits when I visited LBAOP. Was it near the jewel tanks that housed their Rhinopias scorpionfish? Maybe the tank just looked that small in comparison to their primary exhibits?
Here is another thought - counter intuitive perhaps, but it is seen in Giant Pacific Octopus. If you give a GPO a large tank, it can more easily jet, and pick up enough steam to really whack into the side of the tank. Keeping them in smaller tanks (really just the size of their den) keeps them from being able to get up as much speed when they jet.
Same thing with zebras in zoos - either keep them in small paddocks, or in huge open areas (where they can run, but have time to slow down again). Keep them in a medium size pen and they'll build up just enough speed to hit the wall and break a leg!

Jay Hemdal

[mucktopus]

"sand/muck habitats near reefs, and their peak density is actually in brackish estuaries where nobody dives"

That's a curious option. An estuarine squid lives along the Atlantic coast of the US, so it's no unheard of among cephs.
Some octos can tolerate a huge range in salinities, but I have no idea what the mimics can handle. Given how tough they can be to keep in aquaria, I'd be surprised if they were more common in estuaries. Sure, I doubt many home aquarists keep tropical estuarine conditions in their tanks, but if mimics can live and breed in high-current muck, they can certainly tolerate more "typical" waters just fine. I've dived several poor-vis estuarine muck sites in Indonesia and found very little of anything going on. Sure, vis might have limited the ability to find octos, but those sites had very few crabs, stomatopods, etc- foods for mimics. I'd be surprised if they were more dense there, although it is certainly possible that other estuarine sites are better. Larry Smith pioneered muck diving and lists strong currents as an important factor for a good muck site. This may deliver a good larval supply of mimics and their prey, but it would also improve vis and bias our searches. Despite all the muck scouting dives I've done in Indo, my favorite spot to see mimics is still a small bay in the Lembeh Strait that has a very small freshwater input.