The pearl octopus lives on the seafloor at depths of 1200-3900 meters (3900-12,800 feet) on sandy and muddy plains, seamounts and in groups at hot springs. Living at such depths, these grapefruit-sized octopuses scavenge what they can and also eat invertebrates and fish.
When researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute observed thousands of these octopuses at a hot-springs oasis in the deep sea, they became internet stars. Dubbed “the Octopus Garden,” this hot spring site is about 823 acres located on warm cracks in the ocean floor near off the Central California coast. It may have more than 20,000 octopuses at one time, the largest aggregation of octopuses that scientists have found.
The octopuses gather there to mate and brood their eggs. The females search for a nesting spot near warm water to deposit a clutch of approximately 60 sausage-shaped eggs. When brooding their eggs, octopus moms cover their eggs with their body and protect them from predators. Like other octopus moms, the pearl octopus lives off her body’s food reserves while brooding her developing eggs.
Revisiting individual females’ nests, the MBARI team discovered the advantage to being at the Octopus Garden: “rather than taking a decade or longer to hatch, as would happen in the very cold deep sea, baby octopuses emerge from their cozy nests after less than two years.” The warm water speeds up development, reducing the amount of time the eggs are exposed to predators and so increasing the chances of survival for the hatchlings.
The small octopus crawls along the seafloor using its arms rather than moving by jetting like other species that live in shallower waters. One of the few octopuses that can walk on two arms. Now, scientists at MBARI are studying how the pearl octopus controls its walking may lead us to the next Octobot.
