Sunday Times 2
Octopus protects her eggs for 4-1/2 years
View(s):WASHINGTON (Reuters) – If someone were to create an award for “mother of the year” in the animal kingdom, a remarkably dedicated eight-limbed mom from the dark and frigid depths of the Pacific Ocean might be a strong contender.
Scientists on Wednesday described how the female of an octopus species that dwells almost a mile below the sea surface spends about 4-1/2 years brooding her eggs, protecting them vigilantly until they hatch while forgoing any food for herself.
It is the longest known egg-brooding period for any animal, they wrote in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.
The scientists used a remote-controlled submarine to monitor the deep-sea species, called Graneledone boreopacifica, off the coast of central California.
They tracked one female, recognizable by its distinctive scars, that clung to a vertical rock face near the floor of a canyon about 4,600 feet (1,400 meters) under the surface, keeping the roughly 160 translucent eggs free of debris and silt and chasing off predators.
Bruce Robison, a deep sea ecologist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, California, said this species exhibits an extremely powerful maternal instinct.
“It’s extraordinary. It’s amazing. We’re still astonished ourselves by what we saw,” Robison said.