Rich Ross

Eight is a lot of legs, David

Secret Home Lab on Adam Savage’s Tested

The Tested Crew came over to the SHL as part 3 in a 4 part series about building an octopus puzzle.

(Note: This is a video series we filmed in 2018, before the current pandemic lockdown.) While we wait for the California Academy of Science’s Giant Pacific Octopus to learn Adam’s puzzle, Kishore and Indre visit biologist and cephalopod expert Rich Ross’ home aquarium and lab where Rich breeds and raises octopuses and other amazing critters. It’s one of the most fascinating home laboratories we’ve visited!

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVoj6…
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIUIC…
Indre Viskontas: https://twitter.com/indrevis
Kishore Hari: https://twitter.com/sciencequiche

Adam Savage says nice things about Rich

Local copy here

I’m mentioned a few times, but the good chunk is at about 29:40, which is where the youtube video below should start. There is a bunch of ceph stuff earlier.

Search for the Flapjack Octopus

From Reefs Magazine

Search for the Flapjack Octopus

By Richard Ross I can hardly contain myself as we park by the dock in front of the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in Moss Landing California. As we unpack our gear for the cruise it is dark and cold, the sun is still asleep, and I am literally jumping up and down with excitement. I try to get myself under control as colleagues from the Monterey Bay Aquarium start arriving until I notice that they are also overflowing with excitement. The science staff arrives, and they are equally excited. We are all giddy with anticipation as we board the 135 foot research vessel, Rachel Carson, the support ship for the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) Ventana. Why are we all so excited? Today is the last cruise of the year for the ROV collection of deep water cephalopods for both public display and research; the forecast is for calm seas and our quarry is the Flapjack octopus (Opisthotheusis sp). 

The adorable Flapjack octopus just prior to being transferred to a transport bag. Photo by Rich Ross.

I don’t get seasick. Ever. Even in terrible conditions. When I was 14 going out trawling with the local college marine bio classes in LA, we used to pack food that would make other people on the boat a little grumpy – my favorite was peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, which are delicious, but not to queasy people. (more…)

Designer clownfish as feeder fish

From Advanced Aquarist

By Richard RossPosted Mar 24, 2014 09:30 AM
This video of a juvenile dwarf cuttlefish eating a captive raised designer clownfish is not just fantastic to watch, but it may point us in a new direction for feeding marine predators.

This week, Chad Vossen of Vossen Aquatics and builder of the famed Vossen Larval Snagger, started feeding tiny clownfish, including Platinum clowns to his very young Dwarf Cuttlefish, Sepia bandensis. Cuttlefish hunting and feeding is always amazing to watch, but watching a cuttlefish hunt and eat a captive bred designer clownfish brings the experience to a whole ‘nother level that will thrill some while making others uncomfortable. After all that is a captive bred fish, and every captive bred fish is special, and expensive captive bred fish are even more special right
(more…)

CEPHALOPOD BREEDING