Octopus bimaculoides

Octopus bimaculoides, commonly known as the Two Spot Octopus, is a favorite species of octopus for pets because of its pleasant nature and hardiness. It can be found off the coasts of California to Mexico, from east Africa to America Samoa, Japan and Great Barrier Reef. It is found in the intertidal (low tide) and benthic (subtidal) zones. It is usually found in sandy substrates or hidden in rocks and debris.   It can reach a mantle size of 7 inches and its arms can reach about 23 inches. It is not heavily textured and has several common colors such as brown with grey splotches.The Two Spot octopus gets its name from the two iridescent blue chain-like circles set under each of its eyes. These circles are called ocellus.

10/20/13

Today was a very busy day at the aquarium! It was their annual Seafair and the place was PACKED. But before seafair started, we did the usual feeding and cleaning of the animals. One of the volunteers doing a project on Rock Shrimp found parasites growing inside them so we watched him remove them. That was pretty cool, I like parasites. Then, sea fair started. I was stationed at the front so i worked between the kitchen and the thumb-buddy station. We had a lot of people come that day. Later on I met with my mentor and we once again discussed my research project. We decided that I would use a ten gallon tank, the long ones, and divide it into three different sections. Each section would have two olive rockfish in it. We also decided that we would have no gravel in the tank so that I could put a grid at the bottom to better measure their length by using a program called Image J. I'm almost done finding everything I need to write my proposal, so hopefully in a few weeks I'll have it ready and approved.

Blog 8: Research and Working EQ

1.  What is your working EQ?
What factors are most important to successfully raise marine life from birth/hatching in captivity?

2.  What is a possible answer to your working EQ? Please write the answer in thesis format. 
 One of the possible answers to my EQ is nutrition in a fish's diet. Nutrition is especially important in larval and juvenile stages of fish because this can shape how well they do in later life. Poor diet can lead to things such as mal-pigmentation, skeletal deformities and loss of enzyme capacity. It affects their growth, both in weight and length, and their behavior. I hope to further research the effects of nutrition in diet with my independent component, where I will be using Olive Rockfish as my experimental species.
3.  What is the most important source you have used that has helped you come up with an answer to your working EQ?
The most important source that i have used so far is my mentor. Andres has been really helpful and has provided me with many great opportunities to expand my knowledge. He's taught me the different feeding methods for the fish, cleaning and maintenance and the difference between the AQ1 and AQ2 water lines. I've learned how important water temperature, diet, environment and stress factors are in keeping and raising healthy fish.

 4.  Who is your mentor, or where are you volunteering, and how does what you are doing relate to your working EQ?
My mentor is Andres Carillo and I volunteer at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. I volunteer specifically in the aquatic nursery, where I work with larvae and juvenile fish. Both my mentor and the aquatic nursery relate to my EQ. My mentor teaches me how to take care of the young fish, along with giving me problems and 'tests' to have me stop and really think things out. The aquatic nursery provides me with the perfect facility to study the larvae and juveniles, along with actively interacting with the public to not only improve my public speaking skills, but to push me to expand my knowledge so that I can provide them with accurate information.

10/13/13

The morning started off with the normal feeding. I fed everything but the Red Abalone. This is the first time that I've fed Jelly Corner. It was fun, fed them a mix of baby brine shrimp and cyclopeeze. After this I helped clean the tanks to remove and left over food. After all the cleaning was done I checked the blue banded gobie tank for eggs. I didn't find any unfortunately. Soon after a new volunteer and I headed down to the tide pools to collect crabs and snails for the octopus. But we had missed the low tide so when we got there it was high tide... but we collected a large amount of them so that was good. And I got stuck for a few minutes on a little 'island' of rock. I wasn't really paying attention to the tide and so had to wade back to shore..... yeah, I had soggy socks and shoes for the rest of the day. When we returned him and I had to separate all of them between small and big. That took a very long time. Oh, we did something pretty cool today, we collected jellyfish larvae from the moon jellies. I met with my mentor again today and we decided to change my species from swell sharks to Olive Rockfish because rockfish grow a lot faster than Swell Sharks and they're easier to take care of. So I have to re-do my proposal. I'm thinking of just putting the extra hours as my independent component because my research project, which I'm doing either way, will not be done in time. It will be taking about 3 months to do. And I'm hoping to do another after I finish this one.

The Wolf Eel

Well, since the juvenile Wolf Eels are my favorite animals to feed at the aquarium so far, here's some information about them.

The Wolf Eel, Anarrhichthys ocellatus, is a member of the Anarhichadidae family. It is actually not related to other eels, instead is one of five fish in the 'wolffish' family. They can get about 8 feet in length, curling up in caves with just their heads sticking out to catch prey. Wolf Eels mate for life and will take special care of their eggs as they develop. By around the age of seven, females can lay up to 10,000 eggs at a time. She will then coil around them with her body to shape them into a sphere roughly the size of a grapefruit. After she's finished she will remain this way and the male will then coil around her to add another layer of protection. To keep the water and oxygen flowing around the eggs the female will periodically 'massage' the sphere with her coils. The eggs will take about four months to hatch.

Above: Juvenile Wolf Eels are brightly colored and about 1.6 inches after hatching. Below: Wolf Eels fade to a storm grey as they mature and can get up to 8 feet long.

10/06/13

Today I fed all of the animals in the morning and then cleaned all of their tanks. I met with my mentor Andres twice today, the first to discuss my project proposal and the second for the interview number 2. Both went well.... then Eric and I walked down to the tide pools and collected crabs and hermit crabs for the octopus, along with red algae and sea snails for Eric's tank. Then I cam back and made 'green water' and also prepared the larval buckets. Then came the p.m. feeding and cleaning and then the water checks and then home...... yes.

Blog 7: Independent Componet 1 Approval

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

I will be continuing my mentorship with Andres Carillo, and possible with a new mentor as well. I will be working in the aquatic nursery helping raise and take care of the animals.

 

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

I will be posting pictures and posts about what I've done. You can also contact Cabrillo and they will send you my hours of working there.

 

3.  And explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.
  The great thing about working in the aquatic nursery, is that I am constantly around and working with marine life. Because I am actively interacting with them, I learn new things all the time and can study certain factors for myself. This is how I've come up with my first answer, which is diet.

4.  Post a log on the right hand side of your blog near your mentorship log and call it the independent component 1 log.

Okee dokee