PLOS ONE, BRUCE ROBISON“Helicopter parenting” takes on a new meaning with the observation of a deep-sea octopus (Graneledone boreopacifica) who incubated her eggs for 53 months, “the longest egg-brooding period ever reported for any animal species,” according to results published this week (July 30) in PLOS ONE.
Researchers led by Bruce Robison from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California first spotted the octopus guarding her eggs via a remote-operated vehicle (ROV) as it inspected a rocky outcrop in the Monterey Submarine Canyon off the coast of central California in May 2007.
Octopuses typically breed once in their lifetime, tend their eggs until the brood hatches, and die soon after reproduction. They are not known to feed or hunt during the incubation. The process typically takes one to three months in shallow-water species, but very little is known about the breeding habits of deep-sea octopuses. The previous record holder for the longest gestation period—14 months, observed in a laboratory—was another octopus species, Bathypolypus arcticus.
“I was astounded,” cephalopod expert Clyde Roper of ...
