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The Octopus makes the Top 10 smartest animals list, so if you compare the longevity with the others on the list, you’d think it would be similar. The orangutan lives to be 35-45 years, bottlenose dolphins 25-29 years and the elephant 70 years. So how come octopus has an average lifespan of just 1-2 years? Let’s see why this smart, well-adjusted, smart animal has such a relatively short life!
The background of octopus species
Octopuses are invertebrates that live in the ocean. They have big heads, big eyes and eight long arms covered with suction cups. These arms are used to capture prey, maneuver around the bottom of the ocean, and propel themselves through the water. There are 300 species of octopus, including the common octopus, mimic octopus, blue-ringed sea octopus and the giant Pacific octopus. These are all shallow water finless octopuses, the most common species. There are also a handful of species that fall into the category of deep-water finned octopuses that have large fins on the side of their heads. The fins resemble the ears of a elephant earning one of these species the name “the Dumbo octopus” after the Disney character dumbo. Let’s compare some of these octopuses:
- Common octopus: Brownish green, 1-3 feet tall including arms, most common species, lifespan 1-2 years.
- Mimicking octopus: Light brown with dark brown stripes, 2 legs including arms, can “mimic” other animals such as hiding six of their legs and making two of their arms resemble sea snakes, lifespan 1-2 years.
- Blue Ringed Sea Octopus: Yellow with bright blue circles, small 8-10 inches including arms, are extremely poisonous with poison 1000 times more potent than cyanide! Lifespan 1-2 years.
- dumbo octopus: Universal brown color with short arms, 1 foot including arms, lives deep at the bottom of the ocean and has fins on the side of its head. Lifespan 3-5 years.
- Giant Pacific Octopus: Reddish pink, 14-16 feet including arms, the biggest octopus with one of the longest life span of 3-5 years.
Why do octopuses have such a short lifespan?
The leading cause of death in octopuses is natural causes, but not in the way you’d expect! When you think of natural causes, you might think of an animal dying of old age, but octopuses are usually 1-2 years old when they die, so how can this be?
Both the male and female octopus mate only once in life and they die shortly after. Males live for a few months after mating before dying and females spend weeks diligently guarding the eggs. She even cleans them and keeps waste away from them, all 100,000+ eggs. She only seems to focus on making sure her offspring survive, as she will stop eating and never leave the nest. Once the eggs hatch, the female octopus seemingly dies from lack of food, expending all of her energy to ensure the safety of her babies. The babies hatch and look like little versions of their parents and are equipped to live on their own.
Researchers have studied what exactly happens in the female octopus when it dies. They studied the eye gland in female octopus and found that the secretions of the opticus happily send a message to the octopus to inhibit digestion and salivation. Studies have removed the optical happiness of female octopuses and found they live significantly longer.
Which octopus species lives the longest?
Giant octopuses have the longest lifespan of all octopus species, living 3 to 5 years. However, scientists recently discovered an octopus species with a remarkable trait that makes them live longer than even giant Pacific octopuses!
A deep-sea octopus – Graneledon boreopacifica – has been observed incubating its eggs for a period of 53 months before hatching. this is what there is actually amazing, the females guard their eggs in this species were not observed while eating over the entire 53-month period! Thanks to this long wearing time Graneledon boreopacifica is the octopus with the longest known lifespan!
Why do female octopuses die soon after their eggs hatch?
This is still being studied, but one theory is that the octopus’ main evolutionary task is to reproduce and once it has done so, its “job” is complete. Another theory lies in the speculation that since octopus can be cannibalistic, a trigger mechanism that causes the mother to die protects the new babies from being eaten by their mother. Researchers continue to experiment with these intelligent creatures to learn all they can.
What other animals die shortly after mating?
There’s a word for this, semelparity, which means “death after first procreation.” There are different types of spiders where the female will eat the male after mating, the same goes for the praying mantis. One marsupial, the male kalutas, a small mouse-like animal, dies immediately after mating, making it one of the few mammals to do so. salmon are known to travel to their spawning grounds where they die shortly after reproduction. A common thread with these animals is that they do not reproduce until they have a large number of offspring in one episode.
What about the longevity of cuttlefish and cuttlefish?
Octopus, squids and calamari are all cephalopods and have similar characteristics. All three are semelparous (meaning they only reproduce once and die sho
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ly after reproduction) but are their lifespans similar? Yes, squids have an average lifespan of 1-2 years and squids have an average lifespan of 3-5 years. Some of the larger squid species can live a lot longer, up to 15 years. Nautiluses are another type of cephalopods. They resemble octopus, but live in a shell and have 90 smaller tentacles without a suction cup. They take 10-15 years to mature and reproduce more than once, so they are not semelparous. Their average lifespan is 15-20 years.
If octopuses have a short lifespan and only reproduce once, are they in danger?
New! Their system works fine. Most octopus species are not threatened or endangered, according to the IUCN. The common octopus is listed as “Least Concern” by the IUCN. Humans pose no major threat to the octopus population at this time, but fishing and harvesting are listed as potential threats. It is important for the fishing industry to follow regulations to ensure that the balance between these amazing creatures is maintained.
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