APU marine biology graduate student Neal Smith will present his research on effects of seabed slope on the movement patterns of giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini).
New data, documenting behavior in deeper water, found that octopuses moved much more than previously reported in the scientific literature. Smith’s tracking study used acoustic telemetry and was completed in Kachemak Bay’s Eldred Passage with co-investigators Scheel and Tania Vincent.
Use of bathymetry in navigation and habitat selection has not been known previously for cold- and deeper-water octopuses. Smith will present findings in March at the Kachemak Bay Science Conference in Homer, Alaska.