Diet and Foraging Behavior
O. rubescens is a generalist predator and has been maintained on a wide variety of gastropods, bivalves, crabs and barnacles in the lab. So far, very little quantification of its diet in the wild has been made. The two studies on the subject determined diets in Puget Sound, Washington to be dominated by gastropods, particularly Nucella lamellosa and Olivella baetica, but also composed of clams, scallops and crabs. The planktonic larvae of O. rubescens have also been observed in the wild to consume krill.
As part of its feeding behavior, O. rubescens will pounce on prey and display a stereotypical sequence of color changes at the moment of capture. Following the capture of bivalve prey, it will often drill a hole through the shell to deliver venom and more easily open the shell. The octopuses will often concentrate their drill holes near the adductor muscles of the bivalve prey.
A recent study has suggested O. rubescens may choose prey based on fat digestibility rather than on the amount of calories the octopus is able to obtain from the food items. If this is true, the authors further argue, this would make O. rubescens a specialist predator by some measures, rather than a generalist, due to it specific nutrient requirements.
Read more about this topic: East Pacific Red Octopus
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