TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Cephalopoda
Order: Octopoda
Family: Octopodidae

Genus/species: Octopus bimaculoides

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Usually a mottled-brown color with a dark deep-blue ovoid spot under each eye. It can use the chromatophores in its skin to change its color and texture when hunting for prey or hiding from predators (including its eye spots).

Size to 3 feet (including its body and outstretched arms)

2spot Octopus25853155380_e17555cef7_k

DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Found from central California to northern Baja California among reefs and pilings on the sea floor.

DIET IN THE WILD: Limpets, black abalone, snails, clams, hermit crabs and small fishes. Prey are subdued with a parrotlike beak and toxic secretions through a salivary gland. Their food is then scraped out with a radula.

REPRODUCTION: Females lay up to 150,000 eggs under rocks from late winter to early summer, then brood on them continuously for 2-4 months. During brooding, the female doesn’t feed and usually dies when eggs hatch.

Two-spot Octopus26033508582_96a0c27793_k

Life Span: One-and-a-half to two years.

PREDATORS: Moray eels, scorpionfish and humans. Arms are often lost during a fight with a moray eel and can regenerate.

CONSERVATION: O bimaculoides is very sensitive to impaired water quality, thus water pollution is an issue for its survival.

References

California Academy of Sciences Steinhart aquarium Animal Attractions 2016

Ron’s flickr  https://www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/26033508582/in/album-72157629304397467/

Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org/accounts/Octopus_bimaculatus/

Jaffe Laboratory jaffeweb.ucsd.edu/node/twospottedoctopus

Monterey bay Aquarium  www.montereybayaquarium.org/animal-guide/octopuses-and-ki…

Cabrillo Marine Aquarium www.cabrillomarineaquarium.org/exhibits/socal-species-det…

Ron’s WordPress Shortlink  http://wp.me/p1DZ4b-1G9