SHEPHERD, ROSS, & AVILA: HUSBANDRY OF THE COCONUT OCTOPUS 
245 
imal water volume in a sealed eollecting bag. No water quality tests were conducted in the field, 
so we have no data to substantiate this hypothesis. 
During the night, three specimens secured in individual small containers inside of a 20 liter 
opaque plastic bucket went missing. We assume that local fishers, who are regularly seen out on 
the reef at night, took the bucket. Our other temporary holding containers, “Kritter Keepers” (Lee’s 
Aquarium and Pet Products, San Marcos, California, USA) were not taken, presumably because the 
clear boxes were less visible or because the “Kritter Keepers” are less desirable than the opaque 
plastic buckets. This was the first and only time we used plastic buckets as an offshore holding con¬ 
tainer. 
We were only able to ship eight specimens out of the 14 that we collected on our first expedi¬ 
tion, as three were lost, and three died of rigor, hiitial mortality resulting from collecting on our 
first expedition was 21%. This is significantly higher than expected, and higher than we have expe¬ 
rienced when collecting other species for aquarium research and display. During shipping, an addi¬ 
tional specimen died in transit, bringing the total mortality rate for our fust collecting and shipping 
trial to 29%. In total, only seven of the 14 specimens collected on this first trip made it to Steinhart 
Aquarium for display, representing a 50% success rate from field collection to exhibit. If we 
exclude the tluee specimens that went missing with their bucket, this success rate climbs to 64%. 
A total of 11 octopuses were collected on our second expedition (November 19, 2012). Despite 
the presence of fishers, heavy currents and surge in the area, all 11 specimens were alive the fol¬ 
lowing morning when they were removed from the ocean for packing and transport to Manila to 
be exported back to Steinhart Aquarium. Because our export permit only allowed us to ship 10 
specimens to Steinhart Aquarium, a single specimen was released the morning following collect¬ 
ing. No animals died during transit. The 0% mortality rate on our second collecting and shipping 
trial was likely the result of our collecting only small individuals, collecting the animals with their 
dens, and using the rigid plastic containers for all stages of the operation: collection, temporai*y 
staging and shipping. The screened tops of these containei*s allow for continuous water exchange 
and thus prevent rapid degradation of water quality due to physiological processes or inking. This 
is a model that we will use for any future collections of small octopuses. 
Seasonality, Sympathy, and Lifespan. — Amphioctopus mai^inatus were readily available 
during the months of May and November when these collecting expeditions occurred. During both 
of these times, a wide range of sizes was visible, and small specimens were targeted for collecting. 
This suggests that eggs of this species may hatch during the spring or early summer. The presence 
of many individuals of several sizes is likely a result of the individuals’ success rate with captur¬ 
ing food, as animals that feed more frequently will grow more rapidly (Wells and Wells 1977). 
The second collecting trip (November 2012) yielded two to three different species oiAmphioc¬ 
topus. These animals were impossible to distinguish Ifom each other while collecting, but differ¬ 
ences in coloration and behavior that were observed in aquai'ia suggest that we were dealing with 
at least two species among the ten specimens exported successfully to the Academy. Further 
research at the collection site will be useful in determining whether different species of Amphioc¬ 
topus are sympatric all year round, for only part of the year, or if our experience was an outlier 
event. 
Like most small tropical octopuses, A. marginatus is estimated to have a short lifespan. We 
tracked the lifespan, post-collection, for five of seven specimens from the May 2011 collecting trip 
and all 10 specimens from the November 2012 trip. Longevity of A. marginatus held at Steinhart 
Aquarium varied between 33 days and 375 days (Fig. 6). The average longevity post collection was 
195.4 days (± 116.2 days standard deviation). Longevity varied between the collections, with the 
animals fi'om the first collection (May 2011) living an average of 173.6 days (± standard deviation 
