Did Octopus Guard Eggs for 4.5 Years?

Direct Answer

Yes, a deep-sea octopus guarded her eggs for over 4.5 years without eating, as documented by MBARI researchers. The female Graneledone boreopacifica brooded her eggs for 53 months, the longest known brooding period of any animal.

What the Evidence Shows

MBARI researchers made 18 ROV dives to the same spot in Monterey Bay between May 2007 and September 2011. Every time, the same female Graneledone boreopacifica was there, tending her clutch of 155 to 165 eggs at nearly 1,400 meters down. She never left. She ignored crabs and shrimp drifting past, showing no sign of feeding. She just cleaned and fanned those eggs for 53 months straight. The study, published in PLOS ONE in 2014 by Robison et al., confirmed this as the longest brooding period on record for any animal. Cold deep-sea temperatures slow metabolism, which helped her body hold out that long. Still, she almost certainly starved to death after the eggs hatched, since octopuses reproduce only once. We rate this 100% confident because the claim rests on direct, repeated observation by MBARI scientists published in a peer-reviewed journal, with no contradicting evidence from any source.

Sources & Methodology

• 01
  MBARI

  https://www.mbari.org/news/deep-sea-octopus-broods-eggs-for-over-four-years-longer-than-any-known-animal/

• 02
  PLOS ONE

  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0103437

• 03
  EarthSky

  https://earthsky.org/earth/deep-sea-octopus-guards-her-eggs-for-nearly-4-5-years/

• 04
  Mongabay

  https://news.mongabay.com/2014/07/the-worlds-best-mother-meet-the-octopus-that-guards-its-eggs-for-over-four-years/

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