The deep sea dumbo octopus is already one of the most silly looking animals living in the ocean but its young offspring takes the look to a whole new level. Researchers got a front row seat at the early life of the dumbo octopus after collecting an egg case from a deep sea octocoral, and watching its first ‘swims’ upon hatching.
What was most remarkable is how fully formed the young dumbo octopus is when it is first born, with big eyes, a full set of tentacles, and even bigger paddle ‘fins’ that are way out of proportion for its body. We can’t even fathom how long it takes a dumbo octopus egg to incubate in the cold dark sea but if nautilus eggs can take over a year to incubate at mesophotic depth, it’s possible that dumbo octopus could take even longer, but this is purely speculation.
And as a bonus video, it was just towards the end of last year that the first baby nautilus were hatched in captivity at the legendary Monterey Bay Aquarium. They incubated over 150 nautilus eggs that were produced by their adult Nautilus on exhibit but not all of them will be fertile. But when they are born, much like the Baby Dumbo Octopus, they are fully formed, ready to feed and perfect one inch replicas of their parents. [Cell]
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