[Octopoda ]
Let’s talk octopus reproduction! That’s right, we’re learning how this cute little Cephalopod was made.
Male octopuses have a special arm, called a hectocotcylus, to insert spermatophroes (packets of sperm) into the female’s mantle cavity. On most octopus, it’s normally the third right arm. Males typically die within a few months of mating. In some species, females are capable of keeping the sperm alive inside of her for weeks until her eggs mature. After fertilization, the female will lay around 200,000 eggs (but may vary dramatically) and hangs these eggs in strings from the ceiling of her lair, or individually attatches them to substrate, once again depending on the species. She will then take a one month break from hunting in order to guard her eggs from predators, and blow currents of water over her eggs for oxygen. She may even go so far as to ingesting her own arms for sustenance. By the times the eggs hatch, the mother is too weak to fend for herself and will often be attacked by animals, unable to fight back. The baby octopuses will drift in clouds of plankton, feeding on copepods, larval crabs, and larval starfish until they can descend to the ocean bottom, and the cycle will repeat.
Photo credit: Michael Bok
