Octopus on the lam!

As I mentioned before, we have five octopuses. One large O. vulgaris, two medium sized O. bimaculoides, and three small O. joubini. Well, while feeding them this morning, I found one was not where he was supposed to be and it's not the one you may expect. I was a little surprised to find the delicious (?) morsel of capelin I offered this morning was not eagerly grabbed by waiting arms as usual and upon closer inspection of the little tube which makes up the home of one of our pygmy octopuses, I found it empty (!!!). Well, needless to say, I was a bit stunned. We set a brick on each of the lids of the tanks to prevent escapes, however this little guy decided he was Hercules, or so he will be dubbed from now on, as he was able to lift up the lid, brick and all, and left behind part of an arm as evidence of his daring dash to freedom. Unfortunately, the area beyond the tank was not the wide open ocean he had hoped for and alas he really had nowhere else to go so I found him sitting somewhat confused right next to his neighbor's tank. With the help of my animal care supervisor, Janice, I was able to recapture the renegade octopus and replace him unharmed back into his tank, safe and sound. To show I had no hard feelings, I even offered him a piece of capelin, which he promptly accepted as though nothing had happened.

Here's the little renegade himself giving me the eye after his escapade. Isn't he a bold one?