Little Octopus (Rossia spp.)
Little Octopus (Rossia spp.)
Common name: little octopus
Scientific name: Rossia ssp.
Locations: deepwater rock-piles
Seasonality: available year round
Colors: tan
Size: 2” - 3"
collected: dive or sampling dredge
quantity: sold by the each
Tidepool Tim says, “A number of years back we were able to source some of these octopuses from a local scallop dragger. He said they were infrequently seen and only when they were towing their dredges in very deep water. We kept one of the little blue-eyed fellows for a few weeks in our aquarium and he was a delight to see and watch. We fed him bits of sand shrimp and fish. He would travel around the tank but was happy in his best spot, right by the tank inlet with fresh water pouring over him. I suppose there are good populations of these in our bays, but catching them or finding them would be a problem. They easily pass through the fisherman's sea urchin and scallop dredges and when diving they are so hidden by their coloration that unless they moved it would be hard to see them.”