Good bye friends.... Giant Pacific Octopus cycle of life.

[Uncle Pug]

The following poignant series of four photographs depicts a dying male GPO (Giant Pacific Octopus) saying "good-bye"... or at least that is how it struck me.

His mate is under the block with their eggs. She will not come out to eat but remain there irrigating their eggs until they hatch (5~7 months) which is also about the same time she will die. After mating the male GPO stops eating and commences his solitary demise as his brain and body slowly deteriorate.

He sees us coming and begins to raise an arm.

He curls his arm while continuing to raise it...

... in a "good-bye" salute!

Good-bye friends.

 

[El Orans]

Nice pix.

 

[dlndavid]

very nice, but very sad.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Sad... Farewell, beautiful creature...

 

[www.scubamazing.com]

cool pics. Glad humans don't mate that way!

 

[www.scubamazing.com]

and yes, it is sad too.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Here is a picture from last week. This fellow was completely unfazed by our taking pictures of him. In fact the "good-bye" salute is the first reaction I've seen from him in several dives to indicate that he is even aware of our presence. I extended my hand toward him and placed it in contact with his suckers but he neither latched on nor pulled away.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Man... That thing is HUGE!!

 

[Lightning Fish]

Uncle Pug:

You say that the female will die after her eggs hatch and that the male will die after mating. What is the life span of the GPO? I thought it was quite long. From what you are saying they only reproduce once. Is that correct?

Cheers,
Bill.

 

[Uncle Pug]

The GPO lives an average of 3~5 years and yes, they only mate once after which both die separately... the female with her eggs and the male in solitary.

One of the most amazing things about these creatures is how smart they are even when very young. You might have heard stories of their antics in captivity... moving at night from aquarium tank to tank helping themselves to the occupants; opening jars to get to food inside or playing with floating pill bottles in their tank. The aquarium specimens are fairly young examples of GPOs (adults can reach 100 pounds with an arm span of 20'+... and there have been reports of much larger ones in the wild.)

One has to wonder what thoughts might be in the mind of a wise *old* GPO as he contemplates the last days of his life.