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Octopi - Blog Posts
Why do so many cephalopods die immediately after reproducing?
Okay so the physical reason is that mating triggers a change in their brain chemistry and hormone levels that essentially poisons them and makes them behave strangely and stop eating. If the gland responsible for this change is removed, the cephalopod continues as normal and lives for many months after laying eggs.
But the evolutionary reason is the end-Cretaceous extinction. Cephalopods used to have a pretty huge variation in lifespan, ranging from a few months to over 200 years (https://www.iflscience.com/ancient-paperclipshaped-sea-creature-could-live-for-200-years-57685)
Large, long-lived cephalopods were hit hard by the mass extinction and those who survived did so by being short-lived and reproducing quickly, so they were selected for as cephalopods recovered from the extinction event. The most ancient species, the nautilus, can live for several decades and mate many times, hinting at the high diversity of life strategies that cephalopods used to have.
So yeah, the reason octopuses usually only live a year or two before self-destructing is because of that fucking asteroid.
An octopus friend đ
(Made with temporary tattoo markers)
This would make a pretty sick tattoo if I ever had the courage to get it, wouldnât it?
humans are shockingly intelligent creatures but unfortunately human meatballs are good as fuck soooo :/
In truth all the other octopi just think youâre a right bastard who needs to âshut the fuck up Dave, we know you ate the fish from the tank across the hall nobody caresâ and have now stopped associating you as the same species as them.
You are an âeldritch abominationâ who is actually just an octopus in an aquarium with a superiority complex.
Itâs time for everyone to agree that octopuses arenât from Earth
Today on the show, we talked about Inky, an octopus that recently escaped from a New Zealand aquarium. We had a hard time believing some of the things we heard about Inkyâs âgreat escapeâ â so we started to snoop around on octopuses.
Turns out we didnât know the half of it.
Here are just a few of the craziest things we learned about them:
1. Octopuses can taste with all of their skin, but especially well with their suckers
2. They can squeeze through tiny spaces very easily. A 100-lb. octopus can easily fit through an opening the size of an orange.
3. Theyâre also crazy strong. A 3-inch-diameter sucker on a giant Pacific octopus can lift 30 pounds.
4. Theyâre brilliant camouflage artists, and can completely change color in a blink of an eye.
5. On a sad note, some octopuses have been known to eat their own arms. Scientists think it may be a response to stress or some kind of infection.
6. They actually escape from aquariums quite often. Octopuses are very curious animals, and are extremely effective problem-solvers.
They can also open jars. JARS THAT THEYâRE INSIDE OF.
In the end, Inky successfully made his way back to the sea, leaving only a trail of water from his tank to that drainpipe of freedom. đ
Ancient God
Merman Dark. Just because I watched this and I thought Dark would fit well with these smart creatures of cold dark waters.
Made for @darkiplierhq