Scientists have made a in truth bizarre discovery on an expanse of cooled lava 150 stat mi west of Costa Rica and most two mile submersed . There , they lay oculus on more than a hundred distaff octopuses , tending to eggs that did n’t seem to be growing in piddle that seemed too quick for their liking .
Deep ocean octopuses are a rarified sight , and it ’s even rarer to catch them in the act of brooding . So whenJanet Voight , a deep sea life scientist at the Field Museum of Natural History , examined footage collected at the Dorado Outcrop during a 2013 - 14 study of lovesome hydrothermal fluid seeping out of cracks in the rocks , it was nothing little of shocking to detect an tremendous camp of tentacled , apparently - anticipative moms .
Closer exam of the footage revealed the gravid - eyed purple saucer to be extremity of the genus Muusoctopus , perchance representing several new species of cryptical sea octopus . To Voight and the other scientist behind this singular discovery , it suggests an even tumid population of octomoms may be lurking unseen in cracks and tunnels on the ocean floor .
“ It ’s like , amazing , ” Voight tell Earther .
It ’s also puzzling , because abstruse ocean octopus tend to thrive in near freeze temperatures . quick water speeds up their metabolism , stimulate them to use up too much atomic number 8 . And indeed , when lead subject field author Anne Hartwell examined the octopod ’ breathing patterns in century of 60 minutes of video footage collected by an ROV and a crewed submerged vehicle , she learned that those in or near hydrothermal fluid were breathing faster , suggesting O stress .
Moreover , none of the well-nigh 200 ballock the investigator examined appear to be developing at all .
“ We argue that the elevated temperatures and low oxygen concentrations in discharge fluids generate severe and potentially deadly physiological tenseness for these octopod and their eggs , ” the authorswritein the paper published in Deep Sea Research Part I.
The researchers go on to speculate that females are drawn to the country because of the lack of sediment , which makes it easier to ground their egg , blissfully unaware of their novel home ’s thermostat problem . As the authors explain , hydrothermal fluid discharges can ramp up quick at any pass on site , and once a female choose a space to brood , she ’s stuck with it — stressful environment or not .
It ’s a speculative idea that could supply unique sixth sense , but requires deeper investigation to be swear .
After all , many animate being seek out warm waters to speed up the brooding cognitive process , include somedeep sea skate that lay their ball near hydrothermal vents , as detail in a late paper in Nature Scientific Reports .
“ Both papers [ the skate and the octopus newspaper publisher ] are quite high-risk as we can not say for certain what the core of the raised temperature is and of course they may move different species in unlike ways,”Diva Amon , a bass sea life scientist at the Natural History Museum , London who was n’t involved with either study , told Earther in an electronic mail .
Nicole Morgan , a recondite sea life scientist at Florida State University who also was n’t involved , told Earther in a Twitter DM that while the H2O is tender , it ’s “ not outside known ranges for the devilfish genus . ” The oxygen degree are also gloomy but not deadly , she said , propose “ the author are probably right that this is sub - par brooding home ground . ”
“ I think they have captured a snapshot of what phylogenesis attend like in tangible life — they are brooding in an area that is nerve-wracking but available and not immediately lethal , ” Morgan continued . “ More likely than not this subpopulation will die out because of the high testis fatality , but if some eggs do come through , that could be a start to speciation . ”
Amon tote up that the discovery was “ super cool , ” and that it prove “ how much more we have to see about the deep sea as we can not definitively say what is happening here . ”
The study ’s author , for their part , suspect there ’s far more to the uncovering than meets the centre . They think the stressed - out brooding settlement they observed indicate much large population of sizeable mortal tending eggs nearby . Perhaps these more privileged mum lurk inside the Dorado Outcrop , in lava - extruded burrow where the water is cooler and more breathable .
Such a universe would be punishing to detect , even for ROVs . But it boggles the head to ideate the universe of a cloak-and-dagger group of octomoms enhance their new in the darkness , here or elsewhere on the millions of seamount and outcrops litter the sea storey .
“ What does this mean for what else is out there that we have no cue [ about ] ? ” Voight say .
Marine biologyOctopuses
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