The enigma of the female octopus | They self-destruct when they lay their eggs

The female octopi die to give life . This is so, ironic as it may seem, once they lay their eggs, it is known that this will be their end. In science, this strange behavior is known as "semelparity" or suicidal reproduction , which in the case of female octopi is produced in such a radical way, that for a long time this behavior has been considered an enigma.

The mother stops feeding herself to care for her eggs until they hatch, and slowly starve to death. In the final stages of this dramatic cycle it has been documented that they come to devour themselves, tearing off their skin and eating their own tentacles to accelerate their extinction ... but why does this terrible scenario happen? The answer could be in a small gland.

Why do female octopuses self-destruct when you lay your eggs?

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The enigma of female octopi

There is an organ that historically has fascinated the students of the cephalopods for the effects that exerts on the behavior of the octopus female , it is the optic gland. By 1977 they had discovered the implications of this small gland in the maternal behavior of these mysterious sea creatures .

On that occasion, some scientists extracted the Optic gland of a female octopus, noticing interesting changes, as if the maternal instinct of these animals disappeared completely. Being stripped of this gland, they abandoned their eggs and began to feed again, being able to continue living for much longer. The response of the female octopus to the extraction indicated that the reproductive organs are driven by the secretions of the optic gland . In turn, the secretions leave the digestive and salivary glands inactive during reproduction, which responds a little to why the octopus dies of hunger when laying its eggs.

4 phases of self-destruction of female octopuses

The enigma of the female octopus 1

On the other hand, in much more recent and detailed research, led by neurobiologists at the University of Chicago, they used genetic sequencing tools to translate exact molecular signals produced by the optic gland of a female octopus after reproduction. In that analysis they detected that female octopi experience four phases that explain how the optic gland conducts its death.

The first phase It is from a mature female, without mating. Described as active and an aggressive hunter who spends most of his time outside his refuge.

In the second stage , just after laying his eggs, he will watch them without rest and will blow the water on the clutch, so he will not go hunting anymore. It may feed only if a crab ventures to pass too close to it, but this phase has a durability of 3 to 4 days.

The third phase is the most critical, is the phase in which female octopi stop eating completely, weakening little by little until they reach the fourth phase . In this stage the female octopus is agitated. In the experiment they hit the tanks, tangled their tentacles and paled before they died, shortly after the eggs had hatched.

In each of these phases the experts monitored the optical glands of the octopuses to sequence the ribonucleic acid, in this way they would know what was really happening. One of the findings was that before mating, octopuses produce high levels of neuropeptides, small molecules related to the feeding of a variety of animals. In contrast, after pairing, neuropeptide production was stopped. They also showed an increase in the production of catecholamines, which regulate the metabolism of cholesterol and factors similar to insulin.

What this may mean, considering that it is the first time that the optic gland has been linked to a function that has nothing to do with reproduction, is that the optic gland sends multiple signals to keep the octopus mother guarding its eggs . But for sure it could not be affirmed if the neurotransmitters are activated after mating, promoting the maternal instincts, or if the digestive functions are stopped to keep the female octopus closer to their eggs, so, there are still things to discover in about these mysterious animals and their self-destructive behavior that has so intrigued us.


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