Mimic Octopus distribution

After seeing Jane Morgan's recent post of a Mimic Octopus from Nuweiba in Egypt, and being encouraged by discussions with Guido Poppe, I thought it would be a fun idea to try and learn a bit more about the distribution of the Mimic Octopus (and other long arm Octopuses, like the Wonderpus, White-V and Caribbean Longarm Octopus).

So those who have photographed these species, please post your images in this thread. Stating the area where they were photographed (doesn't need to be dive site specific).

Obviously our data will be strongly biased to where we dive, but it may reveal something interesting. It will be particularly interesting to see what comes out of the N Indian Ocean (coastal India, Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman).

Alex

So to get the ball rolling:

Mimic Octopus, North Coast, Bali

Mimic Octopus, Lembeh Strait, N. Sulawesi

White V Octopus, North Coast, Bali

Alex

Wonderpuss-Lembeh, North Sulawesi Indonesia

Uh Todd - you're supposed to put the location too, not just the photo...lol! :-)

Cheers

James

Here's another from the North coast of Bali:

And here's one of Sarah's of the same critter - she was using the 50mm and I was using the 100mm:

Darn jet lag-added to the post. I thought it was obvious

Lembeh, North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Lembeh

Joe

Hi Bversteegh and welcome to Wetpixel from another Texan!

Cheers

James

Thanks for the welcome James -

I haven't been posting much lately due to way too busy at work, but the Wonderpus is one of my absolute favorite creatures - couldn't pass up the opportunity to share one of my favorite critters

this guy is from sulewesi 5 years ago

this guy is from milne bay, png 6 years ago

Wonderpuss, Anilao, Philippines December, 2005. I have seen these little guys every Phils trip for the last four years.

more milne bay, png 02 mimic

wrong one

anther pose

and another

Alex,this is a really great idea for a number of reasons. I'd like to run with it a bit further.

One thing that is slowly changing in science is the use of images instead of preserved specimens in some museum collections. I can't think of a better flagship group than cephalopods since they change color, shape and texture – and all of that information is lost when you preserve (kill) one and stick it in a jar.

So the top quality images and locations posted here are great!

One step further, however, would be if the photographers would kindly provide a latitude, longitude and depth to accompany their images and text descriptions of location.

This information in a scientific database like:

http://www.cephbase.utmb.edu/biogeo/latlong.cfm?CephID=660

Can easily produce visualization tools like:

http://hercules.kgs.ku.edu/website/Specime...pecies=arcticus

FYI, the example above is for a deep-sea octopus that was thought to be somewhat rare but I think is actually quite common; it just lives in depths where most people would never encounter it.

Cheers,

James

PS I hope to add my own picts to the list by the end of the year.

All of these were Lembeh Straight, Indonesia

And this one that decided to stay on the "dark side"

James, I think Google Maps would be a nice visualization tool. It's quite easy to interface with.

Cor