Giving Birth to a Patagonian Red Octopus

We all are known about Octopus, which have 8 legs and no bone. It has a special character that “It can change his color any time”. Generally an Octopus can be found in the deepest position of sea. It’s so much dangerous. If it caught any fish, it is impossible becoming free for the fish. Their eggs much be easier—being naturally contained and all. Not always, it turns out.

A team of researchers in Chile have been on a quest to grow a local octopus species in captivity after it was over fished in the wild. The results were published this year in Aquaculture.

Patagonian Red Octopus is so small. It is one meter long. It is slow glower. Its eggs are also so sensitive. The eggs alone take five months of careful incubation and tending before hatching. And no one was sure the best way to keep these sensitive octo eggs alive.

A team of researchers from Chile and Mexico captured 16 females and 12 males and take them in lab. The researchers put a Octopus in a tank. They let the Octopus to mate and then left the females alone again to lay and tend to their eggs—hoping to glean a few clues about embryonic development patterns and tending tips.

2095 is an average number of egg laid by an female Octopus. At first the egg is 10 millimeters. But in time of hatch it reaches in 14 millimeters. The eggs get many kind of nutrition during hatch. 40% to 100% eggs are lost by the female Octopus. She was only able to hatched 15% eggs only.

Assessing the contents of the egg yolk sac during the embryo development, they found that the octopuses used up just about all of the nutrients before hatching. In particular, unsaturated fatty acids seemed important to regulate membranes in the cold water environment. And, like developing human babies, the octopuses also had “a high demand for DHA to form a well-developed nervous system that ensures predatory skills of newly hatched individuals,” the researchers noted in their paper. Of course, in the wild, almost all of the baby octopuses that did hatch would get eaten up by predators—or would fail to feed themselves enough to grow to maturity.

But the researchers are hoping to learn more from the octo moms to figure out how to keep the hatchlings alive and healthy, at least in captivity.