Ben King

Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Gilchrist, Sandra

Keywords

Octopus, Joubini, Hiding

Area of Concentration

Marine Biology

Abstract

Octopus joubini is a species of cephalopod that is not well studied because of its relatively small size for an octopus. It is an ideal subject for behavioral research. To further understand how the pygmy octopus interacts with its natural environment, which is inshore sea grass beds, three Octopus joubini were subjected to two choice oriented experiments involving dens. Each octopus was given four different objects in their aquaria to make their dens: a plastic vial, a PVC tube, a flat rock, and half of a bivalve shell. Each octopus chose to live in the PVC tube. Then during a series of fifteen trials, each octopus was forcibly removed from its den and placed into a sparse tank with just the same four den types. They were allowed to hide in the den of their choice. Overall, the animals chose to hide in the PVC tube, the shell, and the rock an almost equal number of times, but only one octopus hid in the plastic vial once. This study added to information that can allow analysis of behavioral mechanisms that went into this behavior and the way in which it relates to cephalopod cognition.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida Libraries, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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