Octopus Memories – A Story of A Mother Octopus and Her Offspring
Video Editing By Sixth Grade Computer Students Nolan, Max, Justin and Haigh
Very Special Thanks to Mr. Eswine for capturing Octi and sharing her with us, and the great photos and stories.
Also special thanks to Mr. Swanson for capturing the awesome photos and video of the babies under a microscope.

Click on Link below to view video
Octopus Phase3cut (MPEG-4)

Octi Project 2010

In the late fall Mr. Eswine discovered an awesome octopus in his crab trap in the Wilmington River. He brought it to our lower school’s 250-gallon salt-water aquarium for the students to observe and study. Through research many things were learned.

It is a local species, octopus vulgaris, that finds its way to the sound areas near Savannah to feast on crabs during this time of year. It was observed to devour spider crabs and blue crabs faster than you can imagine.

In the process, it neatly stacked the shells as it ate! The octopus, which was named Octi, eats Channel Whelks, Acorn Barnacles and an invasive species called the Green Lipped mussel.

Octi loves playing with the lower school students as they use the magnetic sliders to clean the aquarium glass. Its tentacles reach out to grab the slider and play with us. It is so cool!

In January, there were changes noticed in the aquarium. Every morning coral and rocks were rearranged. Mr. Eswine hypothesized that Octi was female because she was arranging the aquarium like a mom arranges furniture. Octi stopped eating and they knew something big was going to happen. After that, they found white strands of eggs hidden under a rock and that’s when they knew Octi WAS female and she had laid eggs!! The female can receive a pouch from the male that she can use up to three months later to become pregnant.

Octi remained hidden, blowing oxygen over the egg strands. About a month after the eggs were noticed, the students saw something that looked like massive clouds of particles in the tank. The eggs were hatching! The students were worried about the fish in the tank eating the babies. The fish SEEMED to be getting fat! So Mr. Eswine removed some of the babies and put them in a breeder container. Then he took the rest and released them back into the Wilmington River at the spot where he had caught their mother in hopes that her genes would continue to the next generation.

Our Octi is going to die soon, since research explains that the life span of octopus vulgaris is two years. The end of the female’s life cycle occurs after she brings her young into the world. But don’t be sad. Octi has left over 50,000 babies. We have learned in our research, that approximately four of those 50,000 will survive to adulthood to enjoy their lives in our coastal Georgia waters.

Octi Movie (Director’s Cut)
Octopus Phase2webedit (MPEG-4)