Sid took some video of Ursula’s release last Friday. You can see it here. Thanks, Sid! You’ll notice that Jordan and Cory take care not to turn their backs to the ocean, but the ocean manages to dump a gallon or so of water on Jordan’s back anyway.
We release our octopuses from Yaquina Bay’s South Jetty, which is just down the road from HMSC. We try to release at high tide, when the octopus has more places to hide and a nice current if he or she wants to swim farther out to sea.
You can see our new external Octocam housing from the overhead “Outside Looking In” cam on the Octocam page. Look at the right side of the tank. The new camera is the small grey object sitting on the base of the tank. Tony built the housing to protect the camera from bumps and to block out the glare, but it also makes a nice aesthetic fit.
The new octopus—Case #11-42, nicknamed “Pearl” pending a formal name—can still be seen on the quarantine cam until she goes out front.