Mother octopuses never meet their babies, as they stop eating and die of starvation before the young hatch. However, that’s probably a good thing. While parents sacrifice much for their offspring, few routinely give up their lives. But such is the destiny of a female octopus: tending her eggs is the last thing she’ll do. […]
Tag: Octopuses
Too smart to eat? Why octopus farms are such a slippery problem
In 2022 Nueva Pescanova, Spain’s largest fisheries business, announced it was investing €65m (£56m) in the world’s first industrial octopus farm and processing plant near the Canary Islands’ port of Las Palmas. Despite the creatures being notoriously difficult to farm, the company predicted that by 2025 it would be producing 3,000 tonnes of octopus a year on […]
It’s four feet long, weighs 29kg and has a phenomenal 100-160,000 hairs per cm², sporting more than a billion hairs in total
The title of the hairiest animal goes to the sea otter, whose luxurious fur, according to a 2010 study, comprises a phenomenal 100- 160,000 hairs per square centimetre (an adult probably sports more than a billion hairs in total). Sea otters lack insulating blubber, so dense water-repellent fur is an important asset in the chilly […]
A real-life kraken monster? At 19m it was longer than a railway carriage, devilishly smart and able to crush prey with a devastatingly lethal bite…
The largest predators in Earth’s oceans are typically vertebrates, so when palaeontologists recently announced they’d found fossils from a 19m-long octopus that lived during the Late Cretaceous, it’s no surprise a lot of people were left scratching their heads. What is Nanaimoteuthis haggarti? This colossal cephalopod is perhaps the closest palaeontologists have ever got to finding […]
It’s the ultimate master of deception, able to impersonate 13 other animals, from deadly sea snakes to flamboyant lion fish – quite the mimic
Octopuses are known for their impressive ability to disguise themselves through camouflage and by hiding in tiny crevices but mimic octopuses are the best of the best. These ingenious cephalopods don’t just change the colour of their skin to blend into the background. By altering their colouring and patterns and throwing different shapes with their arms, they actually pretend to be […]
They’re 2 metres long, 10,000 times heavier than the males and can even rip off the infamous Portuguese man o’war’s tentacles and wield them as weapons
Arms spread to reveal the colourful webbing stretched between them, a female blanket octopus treats us to a spectacular threat display, staring us down with one of her two huge eyes. At up to 2m in length, female blanket octopuses are at least ten thousand times heavier than the tiny 2cm-long males, which are little […]
Petition: Ban Octopus Farming in the United States
California has taken a historic step for animal protection by banning octopus farming. Now, the rest of the country must follow. The Oppose Cruelty to Octopuses (OCTO) Act prohibits the farming of octopuses for food and bans the sale of commercially farmed octopus in California. With this law, California joined Washington in recognizing that these […]
Could Octopuses Become Earth’s Dominant Species After Humans?
It is a strange idea, but also a humbling one. Humans have reshaped the Earth so deeply that it can feel impossible to imagine a future without us. Still, history shows that no species stays on top forever. Life changes, the environment shifts, and nature keeps moving. Oxford professor Tim Coulson believes one surprising contender […]