General Information

COMMON NAMES: Daytime Octopus TRADITIONAL NAMES: ‘Eke (MG MT), ‘Eke Māori (MK), ‘Eke / ‘Eke Pae (AK), Mangamanga (TS TW); COMMENT: Mauke: has Eke Vare, Eke Toto, Eke Karu, and Eke Tarāva. GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE e.Africa - Tuamotu - Hawai‘i COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; Marine, near-shore SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Food, Medicine KEY FEATURES: Can change colour rapidly and dramatically.The colour varies from uniformly creamy-white to dark brown with pale spots and blotches, the pale spots can rows along the arms. Identified by a dark eye-spot on the base of the web near each siphon hole. SIMILAR SPECIES: Octopus ornatus lacks the dark eye-spot, and has white spots forming distinct rows on the body and arms. It also has a white line along the base of each sucher on the outside of the arm.

Cook Islands Distribution

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Southern Group: Present    Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
P	^P		^P		^++++

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
P

Octopus cyanea Gray, 1849
TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; MOLLUSCA; CEPHALOPODA; COLEOIDA; Octopoda; OCTOPODIDAE

GENERAL NOTE: Octopuses live for 12 to 18 months. After a month dispersing in the plankton they settle and take 11 months to reach their full-size and to become sexually mature. The male may live a further 6 months. When a mature male is touched by a female, he becomes uniformly white and while walking-tall towards her he flashes dramatic black stripes. If the female allows, he searches for the oviduct opening within her mantle cavity with the specialised tip (=hectocotylus) of his third right arm. If all goes well, they settle in this position for an hour or more, and every 2 or 3 minutes the male pushes another small sperm-sac (=spermatophore) along a groove in the arm into the oviduct, where each independently expels its sperm. Over the next few weeks the female develops 150,000-700,000 eggs and attaches them to the ceiling of her den. Over the next couple of months she protects, ventilates and cleans the eggs, each hatching in a month. During this process she does not eat, and soon after she dies.

Vouchers:
Mangaia: specimen, College, 9/2000, ID GMcC. Mauke: field-specimen, College collection, 3/2001, ID GMcC. Aitutaki: field-specimen, NBSAP School, 12/2000, sans spot, putative ID GM.

References:
None recorded.

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD02

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