The Third Spear

A note on octopus reproductive biology

Although the world’s most intelligent invertebrate, the octopus is not a social animal. Most lead solitary lives, making the formidable maternal instinct of the octopus female particularly profound.

After an octopus mother lays her clutch of eggs, she never leaves her den again. For months, she stands guard against fish and sea stars. She cleans the eggs meticulously, preventing development of algae and bacteria. In all this time, she does not eat.

Towards the end of the incubation period she uses her remaining strength to stagger away from the den, so that predators attracted to her failing body will not also gorge themselves on her progeny.The newly hatched octopuses drift away, plankton in the current, to live or die as they might.

For all their intelligence, octopuses transmit nothing but genetic information to their offspring.

If they could, what stories would they tell?