Meet our little Wunderpus, Patrick. This little guy weighs about 20 grams and is about 8 inches in length, from one extended arm to the opposite one. He's missing a couple of arms but it shouldn't take him long to regenerate them in our care.
Unlike most of the residents here at Octolab, this little guy is not set to be released. We're hoping to get a little more insight on his feeding habits as well as their intelligence compared to other octopuses. He'll be given the very best care and a ton of activities to keep him busy and entertained while we do our best to learn as much as we can about his species.
Although the existence of the Wunderpus Octopus has been reported since the mid 1980’s, this new species has been officially described by scientists only as recently as 2006. The Wunderpus Photogenicus, more commonly referred to as the Wunderpus or Wonderpus Octopus, has been thus named to refer to its wonderful, long arms.
The Wunderpus Octopus is found in shallow, tropical waters. Individuals have been collected at a depth range from 0.5 to at least 20 meters (66 feet). It can be found from Bali and Sulawesi north to the Philippines and east to Vanuatu.
The Wunderpus Octopus is capable of self-amputating an arm if needed. If, for example, they happen to come across an enemy which is simply too powerful to mess with, the Wunderpus Octopus prefers to offer an arm as a decoy while it manages to escape. After all, regeneration is quite easy if you are an octopus but resurrection is impossible, even for an octopus!