Sydney Octopus

Octopus tetricus Gould, 1852

DIAGNOSIS.—Animal medium-sized (˜p470 mm TL; 55 mm ML). Mantle elongate ovoid (MWI 56); head wide but narrower than mantle (HWI 35), demarked from mantle by moderate constriction; eyes small. Funnel short, bluntly tapered. Arms long (ALI 550–740), stout at base, tapering to narrow tips. Arm order II = III > IV > 1. Suckers large (SI 22). Web moderately deep (WDI 25), web formula probably C = D > B > A > E.

Integumental sculpture consists of pattern of closely set, coarse tubercles. Largest tubercles on dorsum of head and brachial crown; smaller and less prominent tubercles on ventral surface. Tubercles on mantle flattened and sometimes pitted at center, forming reticulate pattern. Longitudinal series of 3 papillae on dorsum between head and base of dorsal arms. Papillae present in ocular region, with 3 supraocular and 1 subocular papillae.

ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION.—Gould, 1852:474, pl. 47: fig. 588.

TYPE LOCALITY.—Australia, New South Wales, near Sydney (33°53′S, 151°13′E), no depth data.

TYPE.—Holotype: Not traced, ?female, ˜55 mm ML.

DISTRIBUTION AND BIOLOGY.—Known with certainty from type locality only. Other published records require verification.