Meeting Abstract
As dietary generalists, octopuses play an important role in food webs, with their dietary intake directly impacting many other organisms in their ecosystem. However, traditional analyses of octopus diets rely on middens, or the hard-shelled remains of prey items that are left behind in dens. As a result, studies on octopuses’ diets are likely biased against soft-bodied prey items, which may result in a misunderstanding of their ecological impact. Little is known about the diet of Muusoctopus leioderma, a deep-water octopus that was recently observed at 10 meters depth. Muusoctopus leioderma is a nocturnal octopus that spends daylight hours burrowed into muddy substrate, meaning that no middens are produced. They are also difficult to feed and keep in the lab, limiting current understanding of their diet. These factors make this novel, shallow-water population of M. leioderma an excellent candidate for two alternate dietary inquiries: stable isotope analysis, which can be used to provide general clues about long term diet, and genetic analysis of fecal material, which can provide specific insight into a few dietary components. Together, these methods not only provide information about the diet of M. leioderma, but also present new methods that may be used to supplement current ecological understanding of octopuses.
