Here's why 6,000 octopuses like to be under the sea at an "octopus garden"
Off the coast of California is an unusual "octopus garden" — the largest congregation of deep-sea octopuses ever discovered on Earth, where over 6,000 octopuses huddle around an extinct underwater volcano in the black, cold ocean depths, almost two miles below the surface.
Most are brooding females that spend their days doing nothing but guarding nests full of eggs, a tedious task which can take nearly two years. It would take even longer if not for the warm water seeping from the seafloor that speeds up the growth of their babies, according to new research that suggests this natural incubator is why octopuses gather there in such huge numbers.
The discovery, published in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday, highlights how low-key hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor can create isolated patches of cozy warmth, hidden in the darkness, that could play an outsized role in supporting deep-sea life. Thousands of such spots could be dotted up and down coastlines, researchers say.
"It's definitely a special site for these animals. It's a breeding site for this octopus. It has effects for the entire community nearby that then has spillover effects beyond that," says Jim Barry of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California, the lead researcher for this work. "So it's regionally important and we still know very little about it. How many more of these are there?"
https://www.npr.org/2023/08/23/1195028955/heres-why-6-000-octopuses-like-to-be-under-the-sea-at-an-octopus-garden
I love octopus and find them fascinating. They were my mother's totem animal.
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