Videos used in creating ethograms for Callistoctopus furvus

Callistoctopus furvus (the “eastern”or “sand octopus”) is a relatively unstudied species of medium-large nocturnal octopus inhabiting shallow coastal areas of the tropical western Atlantic. To aid in field identification, promote further study of this species and enhance the understanding of skin patterning and behaviour in nocturnal shallow-water octopuses, we composed an ethogram of C. furvus from photographs and 3.11 h of video collected of wild individuals in the natural environment. We catalogued two colours, 17 static chromatic components, six groups of skin patterns (divided into 16 subpatterns), three textures, 10 postures and 11 behaviours. Photographs and videos of C. furvus from other geographic areas could be classified using this ethogram, supporting its validity for the study of C. furvus throughout its geographic range. We also described eight features that can be used to differentiate C. furvus from co-occurring octopods through observa..., Study siteThis study was conducted at 10 sites less than 1.5 km offshore of the southern and southwestern coasts of South Caicos (21.7 ◦N, 71.8 ◦W) in the Turks and Caicos Islands. These islands lie at the southeastern end of the Lucayan archipelago on shallow (< 20 m) carbonate banks. Salinity ranges from 36.4 to 36.5 ppt (Jury, 2013) and sea surface temperatures range from 22◦C to 28◦C according to season (Logan & Sealey, 2013). The predominant substrates at these sites are patch reefs, limestone bedrock, sandy plains and seagrass (O’Brien et al., 2023).
Video collectionVideo was collected sporadically between 28 February 2020 and 4 May 2023 around South Caicos by teams of two to six snorkelers or five to nine divers. Between 19:30 and 23:30 h, these teams travelled by boat to dive at sites offshore (3–18 m) or snorkelled from shore (0–4 m). They searched seagrass, sand, algal plain, patch reefs and bedrock haphazardly for both Octopus briareus and Callistoctopus furvus. When o..., , # Videos used in creating ethograms for Callistoctopus furvus

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.83bk3jb2x](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.83bk3jb2x)

## Description of the data and file structure

These videos (located on Zenodo - see Related Works) were collected in the shallow waters around South Caicos, in the Turks and Caicos Islands between 2020 and 2024. They were used to isolate the colors, skin patterns, textures, postures, and behaviors of *Callistoctopus furvus* by the first author.

A list of the videos and their associated metadata can be found in \"Analysis of furvus videos Metadata.csv\". The data are broken up by year of filming (\"Analysis of furvus videos 2020.csv,\" \"Analysis of furvus videos 2021.csv,\" \"Analysis of furvus videos 2022.csv\" and \"Analysis of furvus videos 2023.csv\"). The following is a key to the terms and abbreviations used, also found in \"Analysis of furvus videos Descriptions.csv\":

| Metadata Columns | Description ...,