Wednesday, November 3, 2010

BABIES!!!!

Guess what? Guess what? Guess what?!!! My octopus had babies!! I'm a grandmoctopus!! There are thousands of eggs in the cinder block where she has made her den. They hang from the "ceiling" of the rock like strings of pearls. I'm very excited. This is a huge moment in my research! So much potential in those little eggs... Ahh!! I'll post pics soon.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Rabbit rabbit

How is it already November? Things have been incredibly busy these days. Last Wednesday, I did a twelve-hour overnight-survey of Kewalo Basin to determine the Octopus oliveri population size and behavior. I made quite a few homeless friends in addition to octopus. Apparently, Kewalo is a popular hangout for the homeless. I did a 50 minute survey every hour and had ten minutes to write down observations, so I managed to avoid most unpleasant interactions. However, I did meet one toothless man who made strange sucking noises at me until I left to look for octopus. At the end of the evening (or rather, in the morning) I realized I had brought way too much food for one person and gave the people who lived there my apples, crackers and sandwiches as a thank you for making sure I was safe all night. They all called me "squid lady," which of course made me very happy :)

I realized I forgot to post pictures of the Queen's Anne's Revenge when it was here for the filming of the new Pirate's movie this summer. Here are some of the better ones.




Here's a photo of my babies mating!



Here are some photos and a video of the Blue Angels when they were here.