Thanks for commenting, Charles! What a cool connection. Ah, the wonderful world of cephalopod obsession . . . it really is fun.
I forgot to mention in the post that I got the chance to co-author a couple of book chapters with Eric in 2004: "Cephalopods" and "Dicyemids" in the new edition of Light's Manual. It was such a treat!

I love the SBMNH; hope you have fun there and wherever cephalopod research may take you in the future!

Very interesting, old news item Robert, from October 2008, which if you remember we discussed here  when you first posted it in April 2010, in another of Danna's articles. Danna once said that Paul, another famous, captive Octopus, who had exceptional sporting predictive powers, had an expected life span of about two and a half years, so I expect that Otto is probably dead by now. I decided to do some research to see if I could find out what happened to him.

I found the following Youtubes showing Otto amusing himself, as well as footage of him eating other members of his aquarium, unfortunately I couldn't find any footage of him juggling the hermit crabs though :-

Otto the Octopus The newest addition to D's 150 gallon saltwater tank. He barely comes out during the day so this is a rare treat.
Otto gets into a Mickeys Big Mouth (literally!) Otto's an inquisitive fellow. Here, he checks into a Mickeys, passes on it, and decides instead to go out for a stroll or maybe even to jet around a bit!
Otto the Octopus grabs a quick lunch Otto demonstrates his cat-like agility hunting down and killing a Striped Shore Crab. (Note the octopus burp at the end.)
Otto's Bedtime Otto the Octopus retires for the night to his favorite cozy little quarters...inside an empty beer bottle!
Otto the Octopus twists off a mussel Otto slowly turns around and around to twist off a mussel for his midday snack. The kelpfish at the end of this clip exhibits unusual body language...an interspecies plea for a handout perhaps?
Otto the Octopus does his Impression of a Flag Otto appears to be imitating a flag waving in the breeze, complete with shadows of clouds passing overhead. This behavior, known as the "passing cloud display," is thought to be used to confuse predators or to disorient prey

Its really not surprising to me that Otto kept trying to put out the aquarium light, as he does most of his activities at night or as far as he is probably aware, just in the dark, as I doubt if he ever sees any real daylight. The first video shows him doing a rare daytime appearance, which is also hardly surprising, when you see how many large fish are checking him out during this very short period of time!

I was amazed though to see this Youtube showing a fight between a captive large shark and another captive octopus, in yet another aquarium, again filmed at night time. Amazed because the octopus wins this fight! The keepers were also amazed, as this explained the confusing crime scene and the culprit responsible for numerous, dead sharks and carcases that they had kept finding when they arrived at work in the morning.

I couldn't find out what happened to him but I did find a facebook account for Otto where on the 29th October 2010 one of the members posted a comment saying 'RIP'. That would probably make him about two and a half years old, so hopefully he didn't die of boredom!