So today, we went on our first Scuba dive of our Christmas vacation. On the second dive in an area known as Skull Cave I found a large but rather unremarkable cowrie. It was a but dull, and had some crackling, but it was a pretty good size so I brought it with me.
As is sometimes the case with big older shells like these, a hermit crab will take up residence in the shell after the original occupant is gone. When you pick up the shell, they scurry deep inside and it can be hard to tell if it is occupied or not. I don't need a shell more than it needs a home, so if I find out one is occupied, I'll put it back in a nice sheltered location.
One method for seeing if a shell is occupied is to put the shell, opening down, on your palm and wait a bit and see if the crab lifts the shell and starts to crawl around. This can take some time, and you have to keep pretty still. Another method I use is to carry the shell around with a finger along the opening. As long as you are holding the shell fairly gently, the crab with eventually start plucking at your finger (or glove) to figure out what is blocking it's entrance.
After swimming for a few minutes I felt the tell tale plucking of a hermit crab in the shell. I flipped it over to take a look...
What is that inside...?
IT'S AN OCTOPUS!!!
When I turned it over, thes 4 little tenticles retracted back into the shell... As I stared in amazement, this little octopus eye peeked up above the rim of the shell and looked back at me...
I gotta say, octopodes are probably my favorite underwater animal and to be holding one in a cowrie shell like that was awesome. I could have held it all day hoping he'd come out or stick some tenticles out... but alas, after showing it to my dive companions and trying to take a photo, it was time to go. I tried to find a nice secluded nook to place it back into...
Original pictures can be found here
