“Octopus”, another search of
HANZAB that returned unexpected results. I expected a list of seabirds with records of octopus as food. Mostly this I what happened (three species of penguin, two species of shearwater, two species of albatross, three species of cormorant/shag, Red-tailed
Tropicbird and Pacific Gull) but the list also unexpectedly included Pale-headed Munia and European Goldfinch.
The Pale-headed Munia was recorded in habitat that included Octopus Tree Argusia argentia.
For European Goldfinch:
“Once, on D’Urville I., SI, nested in
dried octopus tentacle, which formed circle c. 75 mm in diameter, in tool box on floor of shed (CSN 19).”
I am sure there is a story behind why there was a dried octopus tentacle in a toolbox.
I noticed that many of the entries used the scientific name without an English name for the octopus. These were found because they contained species in the Genus
Octopus. A check Wikipedia showed the diversity of Octopods. Most entries in HANZAB are in the food list grouped under Cephalopods, which also includes
Nautilus, squids and cuttlefish. Further searches, and checking the entries returned, would be required to find all mentions of octopus species – searches for Cephalopods (95 HANZAB species returned); Octopod (12 HANZAB species returned); and the scientific
name of the sixteen families within the Octopoda would most likely be required to get a more complete list.
So much to learn.
Steve
