 An octopus sat on her eggs for years. A hen broods on her eggs for 21 days.Can you imagine any creature sitting on her eggs for 53 months; 1590 days?An octopus mother had just done that from may 2007 September 2011. Bruce Robinson and his team has observed this by sending a submersible several times . They found Graneledone boreopacifica clinging on to a cluster of about 160 olive sized eggs at a depth of 1400 m. in California’s Monterey Bay.According to them she may never had eaten or moved out during this period. This is a mystery for the biologists. They think that the near freezing temperature may have ceased all metabolic activity.More about Octopuses.“ With its eight prehensile arms lined with suckers, camera-like eyes, elaborate repertoire of camouflage tricks and spooky intelligence, the octopus is like no other creature on Earth. The independent computing power of the arms, which can execute cognitive tasks even when dismembered, have made octopuses an object of study for neurobiologists. Alison Abbott Nature.
An Octopus has 8 arms. Three hearts. A tiny piece of bone as skull and a rudiment of a shell. Arms contain suckers of varying size all along. These are capable of grasping, feeling and tasting, Each is capable of exerting a force of about 150 N. At the base of an arm is the mouth. Food can pass from sucker to sucker. It can change the colour and texture of the skin in a split second. What colour is blood? Red ? The blood of an octopus is blue. They use ' jet propulsion' for movement in water. Behaviour They often escape from aquariums as they are capable of creeping through small holes. They seem to be as intelligent as some mammals. They remember people. If they don’t like a person it can eject a stream of water from the funnel at the person. Reference: The Soul of an Octopus. by Sy Montgomery. |
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