octopus climbing out of tanks

There are mentions on the web of an octopus climbing out of a tank,
traveling across a dry surface, going into another tank, grabbing a
fish for a meal, and then returning to their home tank. Some web-
comments say there is a video that was on TV. But I haven't found
anything like it on the web. Is this behavior possible? Is this story
true?

--
(||) Nehmo (||)

On Apr 13, 1:44 am, "Nehmo" wrote:
There are mentions on the web of an octopus climbing out of a tank,
traveling across a dry surface, going into another tank, grabbing a
fish for a meal, and then returning to their home tank. Some web-
comments say there is a video that was on TV. But I haven't found
anything like it on the web. Is this behavior possible? Is this story
true?
(||) Nehmo (||)


I'd heard that story somewhere, but the closest I can find on the web
is the following, which is very unlikely to be on video...

P

http://www.faculty.uaf.edu/ffrsb/out...elligence.html
"In 1873, a stock of young lump-fish in the Brighton Aquarium began
to slowly diminish for no apparent reason. Almost daily, there was one
less fish in the tank and no clues as to what had happened. One early
morning the mystery was solved when an aquarium official found an
octopus in the lump fishes' tank. The octopus somehow had discovered
that the fish were in an adjoining tank, and had thereafter raided it
nightly. To avoid detection, every night after its meal, the octopus
would return to its tank looking innocent of any wrong doing. But this
was not the end. After its capture, the octopus seemed to know that it
was being watched, so it remained in its tank for a week. Then one
night, two octopuses climbed out of the tank, the previous offender
and another, moved in opposite directions, both avoiding the adjacent
tanks and entered those beyond. Unfortunately for both octopuses, one
found itself in a tank with several over-sized crabs and the other
with a giant lobster."

That story seems to say the crabs would win against the octopus. I
suppose it depends on how big they were. But, yes, you're right,
there's no video. Certainly, videos back then were rare.

I'm beginning to conclude the traveling-oct story has no truth to it.
Since plenty of people keep them as aquarium subjects, behavior as
bizarre as this would have been better documented by now.

But they are strange and probably smarter than we give them credit
for. I knew a girl who used to take walks on Portuguese fishing boats.
She said there were piles of freshly-caught still-alive octopuses on
the deck. When you walked past, the octopuses would follow you with
their eyes. She said you could see the expression of resignation an
pleading in their eyes.

--
(||) Nehmo (||)
-----------------------------------

On Apr 13, 3:59 am, "Pushmi-Pullyu" wrote:
I'd heard that story somewhere, but the closest I can find on the web
is the following, which is very unlikely to be on video...
http://www.faculty.uaf.edu/ffrsb/out...elligence.html
"In 1873, a stock of young lump-fish in the Brighton Aquarium began
to slowly diminish for no apparent reason. Almost daily, there was one
less fish in the tank and no clues as to what had happened. One early
morning the mystery was solved when an aquarium official found an
octopus in the lump fishes' tank. The octopus somehow had discovered
that the fish were in an adjoining tank, and had thereafter raided it
nightly. To avoid detection, every night after its meal, the octopus
would return to its tank looking innocent of any wrong doing. But this
was not the end. After its capture, the octopus seemed to know that it
was being watched, so it remained in its tank for a week. Then one
night, two octopuses climbed out of the tank, the previous offender
and another, moved in opposite directions, both avoiding the adjacent
tanks and entered those beyond. Unfortunately for both octopuses, one
found itself in a tank with several over-sized crabs and the other
with a giant lobster."

There is a thread on the forum I use he
http://www.marinefish-uk.co.uk/forum...659&hl=octopus
about the same sort of thing, but they also mention ells as well! No link to
any footage though unfortunately.

Mark

Nehmo wrote:

That story seems to say the crabs would win against the octopus. I
suppose it depends on how big they were. But, yes, you're right,
there's no video. Certainly, videos back then were rare.

I'm beginning to conclude the traveling-oct story has no truth to it.
Since plenty of people keep them as aquarium subjects, behavior as
bizarre as this would have been better documented by now.

But they are strange and probably smarter than we give them credit
for. I knew a girl who used to take walks on Portuguese fishing boats.
She said there were piles of freshly-caught still-alive octopuses on
the deck. When you walked past, the octopuses would follow you with
their eyes. She said you could see the expression of resignation an
pleading in their eyes.


Don't anthropomorphize the octupii, they hate that.

But, all seriousnes aside, I clearly remember seeing a film a
long time ago where an octupus would crawl out of its tank and
unscrew a mason jar with a food-critter in it. I suspect that
they are very intelligent. But not intelligent enough to avoid
getting caught.

Bill

"Bill Turlock" "Bill Turlock wrote:

Don't anthropomorphize the octupii, they hate that.

But, all seriousnes aside, I clearly remember seeing a film a
long time ago where an octupus would crawl out of its tank and
unscrew a mason jar with a food-critter in it. I suspect that
they are very intelligent. But not intelligent enough to avoid
getting caught.

An effective bait for catching octopuses (Fowler discourages the use of
"octopi") is said to be a colorful bit of rag at the end of a fishing line
(cf. John Fowles, "The Magus"), which seems to set an upper bound on this
cephalopod's intelligence.

Alan "Just as a bit of rag in Filene's Basement does ours" Brooks

In a previous article, Alan Brooks said:
An effective bait for catching octopuses (Fowler discourages the use of
"octopi") is said to be a colorful bit of rag at the end of a fishing line
(cf. John Fowles, "The Magus"), which seems to set an upper bound on this
cephalopod's intelligence.

Yeah, but you're only catching the dumb ones.


--
Paul Tomblin http://blog.xcski.com/
I find that anthropomorphism really doesn't help me deal with hardware all
that much, because it lends a certain attitude of disdain to what would
otherwise be a mere malfunction. -- Carl Jacobs

On Fri, 13 Apr 2007 09:00:45 -0700, Bill Turlock "Bill Turlock
wrote:


But, all seriousnes aside, I clearly remember seeing a film a
long time ago where an octupus would crawl out of its tank and
unscrew a mason jar with a food-critter in it.

I saw that on one of the Histcovery channels a few years back.
They did an hour about octopuses.

--
************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

On Apr 13, 9:00 am, Bill Turlock "Bill Turlock
wrote:

Don't anthropomorphize the octupii, they hate that.
But, all seriousnes aside, I clearly remember seeing a film a
long time ago where an octupus would crawl out of its tank and
unscrew a mason jar with a food-critter in it. I suspect that
they are very intelligent. But not intelligent enough to avoid
getting caught.


You only think that because you don't know about the ones that haven't
been caught.

P

On Fri, 13 Apr 2007, Pushmi-Pullyu wrote:

On Apr 13, 9:00 am, Bill Turlock "Bill Turlock
wrote:

Don't anthropomorphize the octupii, they hate that.
But, all seriousnes aside, I clearly remember seeing a film a
long time ago where an octupus would crawl out of its tank and
unscrew a mason jar with a food-critter in it. I suspect that
they are very intelligent. But not intelligent enough to avoid
getting caught.

You only think that because you don't know about the ones that haven't
been caught.

I'm reminded of the story about the study conducted on prisoners that
determined that criminals are generally of low intelligence.





--
"We began to realize, as we plowed on with the destruction of New Jersey,
that the extent of our American lunatic fringe had been underestimated."
Orson Wells on the reaction to the _War Of The Worlds_ broadcast.