DEDICATED PARENTS: Giant Pacific Octopus

The giant Pacific octopus is a very large cephalopod that lives in temperate waters. It is capable of reaching sizes of up to 7m (23ft) in length. Despite its immense size, the giant Pacific octopus is an incredibly devoted parent.

A female mates just once in her life; she has one chance to produce offspring. After she has mated, she begins her search for the perfect den. She is incredibly picky, as she will spend the rest of her life in her den. Once she has chosen, she crawls inside and uses rocks to seal the entrance to protect the den from intruders. She uses saliva and small suckers to weave together about two hundred eggs into a bunch, and then glues the bunch to the ceiling. Over the next three weeks she continues this process, stringing up between 20,000 and 100,000 eggs.

For the next six to seven months, she cares for the eggs. She grooms them with her arms to prevent bacteria, algae and other animals such as hydroids growing on them. She also constantly blows water over them to ensure they have a constant supply of fresh oxygen.

She is so committed to her eggs that she will not leave them for a second. Ever constant, she protects them from anything that might threaten to harm them. But because of this dedication, she is not able to search for food. She slowly starves to death.

When the eggs are finally ready to hatch, she blows water over them one last time to help her babies break free from the eggs. Once all her young have exited the den, she finally dies.

Source: LIFE by Martha Holmes and Michael Gunton