Scientists have discovered a never-before-seen nursery of octopuses off the coast of Costa Rica, taking the total number of such nurseries to three in the world. The Schmidt Ocean Institute and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences team observed the octopuses through their underwater robot. It was awed to watch baby octopuses hatching from eggs in this part of the Pacific Ocean. The discovery also emphasizes how much we must learn about our ocean, says a physical oceanographer from the research institute.
The octopus garden is located at a rock formation known as the Dorado Outcrop, about 2,800 meters below sea level. It lies near a site of low-temperature hydrothermal vents, creating warmer waters than the surrounding area. This environment is ideal for octopuses, as they prefer to lay their eggs in waters about 20 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than those at the average depth of their habitat. The team first spotted octopus mothers gathering at the Dorado Outcrop in 2013 and watched astonished as they clutched their eggs to their bodies. However, no developing embryos were seen then, and scientists thought that conditions near the vents were too warm to support octopus embryos.
But the scientists returned to the outcrop in November of last year and were awed by what they saw. This time, they witnessed octopus babies emerging from their soft membranous eggs and could even see some eggs hatching. It was like witnessing a living fairytale. The team in the mission control room erupted into squeals of excitement, pointing their fingers at the screens excitedly and clapping. The octopuses are thought to belong to a new species of Muusoctopus, a genus of small to medium-sized octopus that lack an ink sac, the Schmidt Ocean Institute said in a press release.
As well as seeing the octopus nursery, the researchers explored five other never-before-seen seamounts during their 19-day expedition. The Institute added that they found evidence of thriving biodiversity, including several new species, and may now investigate whether the areas could be protected from human activity.
The octopus nursery is the second that has been discovered in the region, and it shows that the Dorado Outcrop is an active nursery. A similar nursery was discovered on another seamount off the coast of California in August this year, and that one is also thought to be a new species of Muusoctopus, the Schmidt Ocean Institute says. If the findings are confirmed, these two sites will form the largest nursery known to exist. Octopuses spend their lives as solitary creatures, so finding them in a group like this is rare. But the nurseries help the octopuses raise their young and protect them against predators. The discoveries suggest that other aggregations of octopus, such as those seen at the Dorado Outcrop and the one in California, are also active octopus nurseries. The researchers also think that more deep-sea octopus nursery sites are likely to be found, and this new evidence of their widespread presence will help us better understand the population dynamics of these fantastic creatures.
