The surface of the Monterey Bay is usually calm and gentle. But two miles below the surface, the waters are teeming with more than 20,000 octopuses. This “octopus garden” is where the cephalopods come to mate, nest, and eventually die. But scientists never knew the reason why.
In a studypublished on Wednesday, researchers revealed that thermal springs are the answer. The deep-sea waters where the octopodes gather are ice cold — so the heat from the springs helps their eggs incubate faster. Eggs that researchers expected to hatch in five years hatched in less than two. And the shorter incubation time also means that less of the eggs are eaten by predators.
The species of octopus in the garden is called the Muusoctopus robustus — also known as the “pearl octopus.” Scientists first discovered the octopus garden in 2018, and continued to research the pearl octopi on a series of deep sea dives.
And now it's time for your octopus fun fact of the day: There are a lot of octopuses in the Monterey Bay; and there are also a lot of ways to say the plural of octopus. Octopi, octopuses, and octopodes are all correct. And a group of octopodes is called a "consortium."
