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Tremoctopus gracilis
Not definitely sure of the ID but several sightings of Blanket Octopus during Black Water Dives in Anilao have identified them to be Common Blanket Octopus Tremoctopus gracilis. The picture shows a juvenile female, body size around 1.5 cm, tentacles are much longer. The degree of sexual dimorphism in Blanket Octopus is very high, with females growing up to two meters in length, whereas males, grow to about 2.4 cm. This one seen last night has a body size of around 1.5 cm.
Blanket Octopus are recorded from surface to mid-waters in subtropical and tropical oceans. Recently, there are more sightings of them by scuba divers doing black water dives, meaning dives conducted in the blue at night time over deep waters usually of at least 100 meters depth.
There have been several sightings of huge size (1-2 meters) female Blanket Octopus in Anilao and they are super impressive. Check out this video footage of a female from Romblon Island, Philippines : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1cnTJt1...
3 Comments
Thanks, @Lauren and yes, the way the tentacles is able to spread out gives them the common name, Blanket. And yes, the size difference between the males and females have been scientifically documented.
Thanks too, @Tukup for your appreciation :)
Beautiful Albert. Thanks.
Wow Albert! After seeing the video, I understand why you called it a "Blanket Octopus" Really Amazing! Is there such a size difference between males and females?