Imagine that, Oklahoma octopus
April 16, 2024 1:55 PM Subscribe
Oklahoman Cal Clifford asked for a pet octopus at every birthday, Christmas and major holiday. For his ninth birthday, Cal's parents made his dream come true. Then the eggs started to appear...
Pearl was Terrance-the-Octopus's firstborn. Over the next few days, 49 siblings followed, including Seaoncé, Jay Sea, Swim Shady, Squid Cudi, and Bill Nye the Octopi. The Clifford family dubbed the peace-keeping makeshift incubators soon colonizing their bathrooms and countertops "Clamsterdam," and were able to keep nearly half of the hatchlings alive. During the octopolis boom, Cal's dad connected with the only other person in Oklahoma with a personal octopus, a Dr. Tim, whose own unusual menagerie occupies half a duplex. Dr. Tim now tends to the mini-Terrances, while Terrance, a California two-spot octopus (Octopus bimaculoides) remains with Cal and the Cliffords.
Clifford Sr., a dentist, is on TikTok as doctoktopus.
The Cliffords say anyone else interested in keeping a pet octopus shouldn't follow their lead.
Lots and lots and lots of octopus previouslies.
Pearl was Terrance-the-Octopus's firstborn. Over the next few days, 49 siblings followed, including Seaoncé, Jay Sea, Swim Shady, Squid Cudi, and Bill Nye the Octopi. The Clifford family dubbed the peace-keeping makeshift incubators soon colonizing their bathrooms and countertops "Clamsterdam," and were able to keep nearly half of the hatchlings alive. During the octopolis boom, Cal's dad connected with the only other person in Oklahoma with a personal octopus, a Dr. Tim, whose own unusual menagerie occupies half a duplex. Dr. Tim now tends to the mini-Terrances, while Terrance, a California two-spot octopus (Octopus bimaculoides) remains with Cal and the Cliffords.
Clifford Sr., a dentist, is on TikTok as doctoktopus.
The Cliffords say anyone else interested in keeping a pet octopus shouldn't follow their lead.
Lots and lots and lots of octopus previouslies.
Thank you for posting this, Iris Gambol, it was a delightful read.
posted by effluvia at 2:28 PM on April 16 [3 favorites]
posted by effluvia at 2:28 PM on April 16 [3 favorites]
Dang, I should have started with something other than that article about mother octopus behavior. (Agree on the great names.)
posted by Glinn at 3:20 PM on April 16
posted by Glinn at 3:20 PM on April 16
The delayed delivery was a product of octopuses’ ability to withhold laying their eggs until they feel safe.
Awww
posted by bq at 3:32 PM on April 16 [9 favorites]
Awww
posted by bq at 3:32 PM on April 16 [9 favorites]
OMG THE NAMES.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:58 PM on April 16 [4 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:58 PM on April 16 [4 favorites]
If the family didn't have a lot of disposable income, I wonder if Oklahoma wouldn't have ended up with a decidedly different twist on the old "alligator that lives in the New York sewers, flushed as a baby" myth.
posted by wenestvedt at 5:34 PM on April 16 [4 favorites]
posted by wenestvedt at 5:34 PM on April 16 [4 favorites]
I was wondering if this sort of rampant fecundity (from a California transplant, no less) is even allowed in Oklahoma these days.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:43 PM on April 16 [5 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:43 PM on April 16 [5 favorites]
I'm happy for the Cliffords, really I am. I'd like to have spend $3K on sweet octopus gear but instead just spent $7K to find out that my cat has cancer. Is that level of veterinary absurdity just an LA thing?
posted by wolfpants at 6:11 PM on April 16 [6 favorites]
posted by wolfpants at 6:11 PM on April 16 [6 favorites]
Here in Seattle we just spent $6500 to find out that yes our dog was sick, but, she doesn't have meningitis as they originally thought. But, they are about the only 24/7 urgent care/er/vet hospital around, and they know it. And seem to upsell their care/tests/meds a bit...
Sorry about your cat wolfpants.
posted by Windopaene at 6:38 PM on April 16 [5 favorites]
Sorry about your cat wolfpants.
posted by Windopaene at 6:38 PM on April 16 [5 favorites]
They should be glad he didn’t want a hippopotamus for Christmas.
posted by TedW at 6:55 PM on April 16 [6 favorites]
posted by TedW at 6:55 PM on April 16 [6 favorites]
Have you seen baby hippo vids? OMG, THEY ARE SO CUTE!!!
"I want one daddy, and I want one NOW"
But it is a charming story. Hope the brood can make it. Octopi are super weird, and can probably talk to the whales, dolphins, certain blue tang fish and Cthulhu, (so that may be a problem...)
posted by Windopaene at 7:00 PM on April 16 [2 favorites]
"I want one daddy, and I want one NOW"
But it is a charming story. Hope the brood can make it. Octopi are super weird, and can probably talk to the whales, dolphins, certain blue tang fish and Cthulhu, (so that may be a problem...)
posted by Windopaene at 7:00 PM on April 16 [2 favorites]
What If... H.P. Lovecraft wrote the Homer Price stories?
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:06 PM on April 16 [2 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:06 PM on April 16 [2 favorites]
Windopaene: Octopi are super weird,
Surely you mean Octopodisusi are super weird.
posted by signal at 7:29 PM on April 16 [1 favorite]
Surely you mean Octopodisusi are super weird.
posted by signal at 7:29 PM on April 16 [1 favorite]
Sure, it's funny now, but in a couple of years there's going to be an octopoodle army out there at the command of the Oklahoman Children of the Corn.
posted by MrVisible at 7:31 PM on April 16 [1 favorite]
posted by MrVisible at 7:31 PM on April 16 [1 favorite]
Sure, it's funny now, but in a couple of years there's going to be an octopoodle army out there at the command of the Oklahoman Children of the Corn.
You say that like it's a bad thing.
posted by loquacious at 7:35 PM on April 16 [5 favorites]
You say that like it's a bad thing.
posted by loquacious at 7:35 PM on April 16 [5 favorites]
Well, "Oklahoman", so I'm not trusting them...
(Apologies to OK mefites)
posted by Windopaene at 8:34 PM on April 16
(Apologies to OK mefites)
posted by Windopaene at 8:34 PM on April 16
I had a saltwater aquarium for a while. Even keeping an adult octopus alive is tough. Every responsible book or web site will tell people thinking about it not to get one, because you will probably kill it, and then you would be a bad aquarist.
So a gave them a side eye when I first heard about this. But clearly the Cliffords took the responsibility seriously and decided they would do what it takes to keep it alive, and then when they found they had 51 octopodes instead of just one, they felt it was still their responsibility to care the whole lot. They are even refusing to offload them to private homes (who they know will probably kill them.) Major props. Glad they hooked up with Tytle.
posted by mark k at 10:19 PM on April 16 [6 favorites]
So a gave them a side eye when I first heard about this. But clearly the Cliffords took the responsibility seriously and decided they would do what it takes to keep it alive, and then when they found they had 51 octopodes instead of just one, they felt it was still their responsibility to care the whole lot. They are even refusing to offload them to private homes (who they know will probably kill them.) Major props. Glad they hooked up with Tytle.
posted by mark k at 10:19 PM on April 16 [6 favorites]
^I missed the Dr. Tim Tytle link in the FPP.
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:35 PM on April 16 [1 favorite]
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:35 PM on April 16 [1 favorite]
They are even refusing to offload them to private homes (who they know will probably kill them.)
Reading the article I was curious why releasing them back into the area where their mother was caught wasn't mentioned; is there research about the success of releasing octopuses back into the wild? And I was curious about how the mother "was caught by a diver": is capturing octopuses from the wild legal? Is it common? It seems like the diver might have needed to bring along some equipment for this, so maybe they weren't just "a diver" but capturing animals intentionally?
posted by trig at 1:02 AM on April 17 [4 favorites]
Reading the article I was curious why releasing them back into the area where their mother was caught wasn't mentioned; is there research about the success of releasing octopuses back into the wild? And I was curious about how the mother "was caught by a diver": is capturing octopuses from the wild legal? Is it common? It seems like the diver might have needed to bring along some equipment for this, so maybe they weren't just "a diver" but capturing animals intentionally?
posted by trig at 1:02 AM on April 17 [4 favorites]
For pet-trade capture, I think a fishing license is sufficient?
Octopus breed only once in their brief lifespan. "Breeding octopuses in captivity is notoriously difficult, and most octopuses used for research and displayed at aquariums are wild-caught" (from "Scary Smart," an American Veterinary Medical Association article).
A Spanish seafood firm's proposed octopus farm (NPR, Feb. 2024) US legislation aimed at keeping pulpo (protein-rich octopus meat) off (human) menus: California Assembly Bill 3162 seeks to "prohibit a person from engaging in an aquaculture activity in the state that involves the propagation, cultivation, maintenance, or harvest of any species of octopus for the purpose of human consumption;" earlier this month, the wording was amended to read "prohibit a person from engaging in an aquaculture activity in the state that involves the propagation, cultivation, maintenance, or harvest the aquaculture, as defined, of any species of octopus for the purpose of human consumption." Similar bills in Washington State & Hawaii.
posted by Iris Gambol at 8:09 AM on April 17 [2 favorites]
Octopus breed only once in their brief lifespan. "Breeding octopuses in captivity is notoriously difficult, and most octopuses used for research and displayed at aquariums are wild-caught" (from "Scary Smart," an American Veterinary Medical Association article).
A Spanish seafood firm's proposed octopus farm (NPR, Feb. 2024) US legislation aimed at keeping pulpo (protein-rich octopus meat) off (human) menus: California Assembly Bill 3162 seeks to "prohibit a person from engaging in an aquaculture activity in the state that involves the propagation, cultivation, maintenance, or harvest of any species of octopus for the purpose of human consumption;" earlier this month, the wording was amended to read "prohibit a person from engaging in an aquaculture activity in the state that involves the propagation, cultivation, maintenance, or harvest the aquaculture, as defined, of any species of octopus for the purpose of human consumption." Similar bills in Washington State & Hawaii.
posted by Iris Gambol at 8:09 AM on April 17 [2 favorites]
Octopodes are solitary creatures so I speculate that releasing them back early would have been "fine", with the proviso that "fine" means they'd experience 95+% death rate that happens in the wild.
Capturing fish and other sea creatures in the wild is generally unregulated, or at most as regulated as fishing. It's been a while since I was in the hobby, but captive breeding of saltwater fish is tough and expensive, so most of what you purchased there was wild-caught. A company called ORA tries to captive breed and aquaculture what they can, and many hobbyists prioritize buying from them. (Others don't give a damn. It's a diverse group.) FWIW, freshwater fish are usually captive bred.
Apparently Hawaii did do a total ban on capture of some fish (like the popular yellow tang) a few years ago, but have gone back to quotas. Either way they are one of the more regulated reef areas.
If you want to be really horrified one method of catching fish is spraying them with cyanide to stun them. This is at least usually illegal, but the trade from the Indonesian area--where a lot of fish come from--has supply chains that are nigh impossible to vet.
posted by mark k at 8:07 PM on April 17
Capturing fish and other sea creatures in the wild is generally unregulated, or at most as regulated as fishing. It's been a while since I was in the hobby, but captive breeding of saltwater fish is tough and expensive, so most of what you purchased there was wild-caught. A company called ORA tries to captive breed and aquaculture what they can, and many hobbyists prioritize buying from them. (Others don't give a damn. It's a diverse group.) FWIW, freshwater fish are usually captive bred.
Apparently Hawaii did do a total ban on capture of some fish (like the popular yellow tang) a few years ago, but have gone back to quotas. Either way they are one of the more regulated reef areas.
If you want to be really horrified one method of catching fish is spraying them with cyanide to stun them. This is at least usually illegal, but the trade from the Indonesian area--where a lot of fish come from--has supply chains that are nigh impossible to vet.
posted by mark k at 8:07 PM on April 17
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posted by Iris Gambol at 2:01 PM on April 16 [3 favorites]