the Sea Center
On the morning of August 22, 2024, Content Specialist Owen Duncan arrived at Coal Oil Point Reserve (COPR) with Tessa Cafritz and Kennedy Rivera to film a video for the Sea Center, an extension of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. They hoped to create a video to educate the Center’s guests about the two-spot octopus (Octopus bimaculatus), its natural habitat, tidepooling etiquette, and the importance of protecting marine habitats holistically. While only three individuals appeared in the video, the third being Maxwell Rudelic, the message and how to effectively communicate it involved the active collaboration between the Sea Center’s curatorial staff, aquarists, invertebrate zoologists, and Owen.
When considering an optimal location to film, Owen shared that, “knowing Coal Oil Point is a reserve, we knew immediately who we would reach out to.” The reserve’s tide pools are not only an ideal habitat for the two-spot octopus, but the surrounding nature also provides a beautiful backdrop for the video. While the team planned to film on two different dates to account for the weather, the video was shot in one day, all thanks to the arrival of unexpected guests: the two-spot octopus. Before filming, they understood that the likelihood of seeing one was very slim, so they were overjoyed to see two or three playfully emerging from their dens.
Santa Barbara has a large population of two-spot octopuses, notable for their two bright blue spots, which resemble eyes. This master of camouflage makes its home in the intertidal zone, the area in which the ocean meets the land. As a transitional area between the high and low tides, it is sometimes entirely submerged. Snails, clams, mussels, oysters, and starfish also reside in this area. As a result, it is the ideal location for larger marine animals to forage during the high tide. However, the Octopus bimaculatus is not the only octopus to have the name “two-spot octopus.” The Octopus bimaculoides is often mistaken for the same species. While Grace E. Pickford and Bayard H. McConnaughey discovered a way to distinguish them based on the size of their eggs, the late Eric Hochberg, a curator at SB’s Museum of Natural History and a pioneer in the study of cephalopods, discovered a few other key differences.
Much of the footage was filmed using an iPhone. The iPhone’s small size ensured the process would be as unobtrusive to the habitat as possible. To capture the audio, a wireless lavalier microphone, also known as a lapel mic, was used.
The Octopus bimaculatus remains the most popular octopus species to own as a pet, due to its small size and friendly disposition. However, many owners lack the necessary knowledge to nurture one in captivity. For the octopuses that the Sea Center is hosting, zoologists are striving to provide them with an environment in their tanks akin to their natural habitat.
You can purchase tickets here to the Sea Center to visit the two-spot octopus and a myriad of other wonderful marine life.