I have always loved octopus. I think it's because they're intelligent, ridiculously good at camouflage, playful and curious (all of which are characteristics that I share, minus the camouflage ability). I decided to study octopus for my senior capstone project because the Puget Sound is home to the Giant Pacific Octopus (GPO), Enteroctopus dofleini. I'm working in the Sebens Lab on the UW campus, with Dr. Kenneth Sebens and Eliza Heery, a PhD candidate studying urban marine ecology. We're looking at GPOs that utilize artificial habitat as den sites. We wondered, do octopus that live in artificial habitat eat different prey items than those that live in natural habitat? See my proposal below.
proposal.docx |