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Attention Divers!!

THE EIGHTH PUGET SOUND
GIANT OCTOPUS CENSUS!

How do you tell the difference between a Red Octopus
and a Giant Pacific Octopus?

The Seattle Aquarium will be conducting the eighth annual census of Giant Pacific Octopuses in Puget Sound, Saturday through Monday, February 16th - 18th, 2008 (President's Day weekend). We hope that all divers in Puget Sound south of Keystone on Whidbey Island and inside of Deception Pass southward will report any octopus sightings to the Seattle Aquarium on those days (see contact information below).

Information requested:

• Date
• Time of day
• The exact dive site
• Exact depth
• Den information
• Some indication of size of the octopus (tennis ball, cantaloupe, basketball, or BIG!)
• Some indication of where the den is in relation to the entry point of the dive
• Number of divers

For example: 51 feet deep, 20 yards right of the entry at Octopus Hole, Hood Canal, in a vertical crack in rock outcrop, basketball-sized body).

We hope this information can give us some indication of the relative abundance of octopuses in Puget Sound, and future surveys will give us an indication of trends in their abundance, whether their populations are increasing or decreasing.

Information about any and all octopus sightings on those three days can be reported to Dr. Roland Anderson at the Seattle Aquarium:

phone: 206-386-4371
email: roland.anderson@seattle.gov
fax: 206-386-4328

Possible places to dive: Alki Pipeline, Seacrest, 4 Mile Rock Barges, Shilshole Bay Barges, Three Tree Pt., Edmonds Wrecks, Edmonds Oil Dock, Redondo, Richmond Beach, Blakely Rock and Blakely Reef, Maury Island Barges, Tacoma Narrows, Titlow Beach, Possession Pt. Ferry, Day Island, Richmond Pt. Wreck, Sunrise Beach, Keystone, Langley Tire Reef, Fox Island, Taylor Bay Wrecks, Hoodsport, Sund Rock, Octopus Hole, Hamma Hamma Wall, Hood Canal Bridge, Saltwater State Park and others.

Thanks to everyone for participating! I hope you'll get out and dive on that weekend!

- Dr. Roland Anderson