Octopus eggs are hatching

[Tish]

So very cool.

When an octopus lays her eggs, she never leaves them until they hatch. The entire time, she is caressing them with her arms to prevent mould from growing on them, and using her siphon (protruding tube used to manoeuvre by blowing water in any direction) to blow fresh water on them to ensure they have a constant supply of oxygen. They usually starve during the incubation, or shortly thereafter, because the waiting period is 2-10 months, depending on the species. We are the privileged few out of all humanity to witness these adorable babies' first moments of life!

 

[Imogene]

I am just now watching this

Holy smoke that is a LOT of eggs! it is amazing they hatch and are “off and running” sotospeak



Thank you for posting this.

 

[MarciKS]

Aww the mama starves? That's sad.

 

[Tish]

Aww the mama starves? That's sad.

I know

 

[hollydolly]

I was thinking there's a lot of eggs and newborns, compared to Octopuses in the oceans..so I did little google search.... apparently only 1 or 2 survive out of thousands of eggs


Very few newborn octopuses survive to adulthood, often only 1 or 2 from tens of thousands of eggs, as they face high predation and competition, with survival rates as low as 1% in the wild; even in captivity, achieving high survival is extremely challenging, with some attempts seeing less than 1% make it past a couple of months.