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OctoCam!

The giant Pacific octopus is one of our most popular animal residents. Many people plan their visits to coincide with octopus feeding times, and they love to watch and learn more about these intelligent, curious animals. Now you can join them, via our live, streaming OctoCam! 

OctoNews

Welcome our newest resident octopus, Pearl (so named because she came to the HMSC on Dec. 7, 2011), a lively, inquisitive animal who passed her quarantine with flying colors and moved to the public tank on Feb. 10. We have a new, higher-resolution OctoCam on the main tank, and it may need some adjustments, so  bear with us if there are outages.

Pearl's predecessor, Ursula, was released into Yaquina Bay in December, after more than a year in our care,  after she began laying infertile eggs and showing other signs of senescence.   Aquarist Sid Stetson provided some video of the release.

Read more about the giant Pacific octopus's life cycle - and enjoy some great video of Ursula shared with us by a visitor.

INSIDE THE TANK

OUTSIDE LOOKING IN

 

LEARN MORE

Visitor Julia Rask caught some great video footage of or previous octopus, Ursula, cleaning her suckers during a November 2011 visit. If you look closely, you can see the eggs she had laid hanging from the tank's front wall:

 

For more information about the exhibit and octopuses in general, see our OctoFAQ.

CREDITS

Thanks to the following people for their hard work and creative thinking in planning, implementing and bug-testing the OctoCam:

Mark Farley, Raul Burriel, Jim Krehmke, Bill Hanshumaker, Tim-Miller Morgan, Dennis Glaze, Harrison Baker, Jose Marrin Jarrin, Pat Kight, Becca Schiewe, Kathryn Hawes, our Sea Grant marine educators and the octopus feeding crew. Additional thanks to Nancee Hunter, Dr. George Boehlert and OSU Media Services for supporting this project.

Critter Corner