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Wunderpus photogenicus
The size of Wunderpus photogenicus populations in the wild is unknown, and it is unclear what effect their collection will have on those populations. Little is known about what they need to survive in the wild, and even less is known about what they need to live well in the aquarium. After much wrestling with this issue, I urge even experienced ceph-keepers to think long and hard before bringing one into the home aquarium. Many cephalopod enthusiasts feel that the wunderpus shouldn’t even be collected for the trade at least until more scientific research has been done on the species. Though I agree with this sentiment, the realty of the Marine Ornamental industry is that these animals will continue to appear in the trade. It is my hope that those that read this site are interested in these animals, but do not rush out to buy them. |
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I was able to keep a wild collected, adult Wunderpus alive for over 7 months which is a long time for the species. I only accepted responsibility for Fontanelle because, by serendipity, I was able to obtain a healthy animal before it was tanked at an importer, at a time when I had a mature, ceph-ready aquarium available. |
The Ballet of the Wunderpus |
Click here to see a 19 meg video of the Wunderpus doing things octopus do and digging
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Click
here to see a 12 meg video of the
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The ethics of keeping and collecting this animal are complex. Please follow these links to www.tonmo.com for further discussion: |
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