First of all, what is TONMOCON?  TONMOCON is a biannual conference where cephalopod lovers come together to share information about cephalopods and their keeping.  As mentioned above, the event is to be held at the California Academy of Sciences on October 18-20, 2013. That gives you seven months to get your tickets and hotel arrangements in order. Tickets are only $15 per person and kids are welcome.

Below is the tentative agenda for the event:

Friday Evening: meet & greet at some TBD convenient location (pub/tarvern/restaurant).

Saturday: TONMOCON V Presentations

Presenters and Topics
Note this is based on input from interested presenters. Times, presenters, and topics are all subject to change. TONMO usernames appear in parentheses.

7:45am: Doors Open, and COFFEE!! Thanks California Academy of Sciences!!

8:30am: Intro by Tony Morelli (tonmo)

9:00am: Richard Ross (Thales): Larger Pacific Striped Octopus and/or the cephalopods at California Academy of Sciences

9:45am: Dr. Roy Caldwell (Neogonodactylus): More on the Larger Pacific Striped Octopus, and/or cephalopod photography

10:30am: Greg Barord (gjbarord): Nautilus field research update

11:15am: Olaf Blaaw (OB) – Ammonite soft structure anatomy

12 Noon: LUNCH will be provided by TONMO – likely pizza (hold the calamari)

During lunch we will air the trailer for Dan Monceaux’ documentary, Cuttlefish Country, inspired by Sepia apama. Event-goers can check out Kirk McGuire’s bronze cephalopod sculptures, on display!

12:45pm: Dr. Crissy Huffard (mucktopus): Abdopus, or mimics, or general octopus diversity (tbd)

1:30pm: Aaron Boyd Evans (GPO87): research at AUT (on the glass squid) and/or general squid diversity (tbd)

2:15pm: Denise Whatley (dwhatley): Identifying Commonly Kept Octopuses

3:00pm: Adam Daw (marinebio_guy): Trophic niche and trophic interactions of near-shore reef octopuses in Hawaii using stable isotope analyses. Also, Phylogenetics of near-shore octopuses of Hawaii, and Fecundity and egg development vs temperature of the Crescent octopus (Abdopus sp.)

3:45pm: Peter Godfrey-Smith (pgs): Octopuses living in groups

4:30pm: Monty Awards, Raffles & Wrap-up by Tony Morelli (tonmo)

Saturday Night: More fun somewhere!

Sunday: day at the aquarium?

(via TONMO)