FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes Western

820 Cephalopods
Ameloctopus litoralis Norman, 1992b
En - Banded long-arm octopus.
Small octopus (maximum mantle length 30 mm) with greatly elongated arms
(5 to 10 times mantle length). Arms frequently sever at base as decoy to
predators, around 10 th sucker. more than 180 suckers on intact normal arms
of larger animals, 20 to 40 on hectocotylized arm of male. No ink sac. Right
third arm long in submature males, lacking ligula. Mature males sever arm
around 40 th sucker and develop ligula from stump. Eggs large, to 10 mm. Skin
smooth, no papillae. Colour: pink to brown, hearts visible through thinwalled
mantle, arms with regular purple-brown bands. Intertidal mud,
sand, and rubble reefs. No fisheries value but may be poisonous. Restricted
to tropical coastal waters of northern Australia.
Hapalochlaena fasciata (Hoyle, 1886)
tip of
hectocotylized
arm
En - Blue-lined octopus.
Small octopus (maximum mantle length 40 mm) with short arms (2 to 3 times
mantle length). Colour: cream to orange base colour with iridescent blue
lines (not rings) on dorsal mantle and single or linked blue rings on arm
crown and arms. Intertidal and shallow rocky reefs to depths of at least 20 m.
No fisheries value but extremely venomous, tetrodotoxin venom produced in
the salivary glands and responsible for a number of human deaths. Subtropical
waters of eastern Australia from southern Queensland to southern New
South Wales.
(after Roper and Hochberg, 1988)
dorsal view
dorsal view