Student Article
Why Mother Octopuses Die After Laying Eggs
Octopus (noun): A sea animal with eight arms.
Starve (verb): To die from not eating enough food.
Gland (noun): A body part that makes chemicals for the body.
Did you know mother octopuses give their lives to protect their babies?
The ultimate mom sacrifice
After a mother octopus lays her eggs, she stays with them until they hatch. She doesn’t go out to eat or swim around. Instead, she spends all her time taking care of the eggs, keeping them safe and clean.
She stops eating to protect her babies
But here’s the sad part: while watching over the eggs, the mother octopus stops eating and slowly starves. Some scientists think her body tells her to stop eating using something called the "optic gland" — it’s like a special switch in her brain. If this gland is taken out, the octopus can live much longer.
Why her body makes her stop eating
Why would her body do that? Scientists believe it might be to stop her from eating her own babies after they hatch. Octopuses can sometimes eat each other, so maybe her death is nature’s way of protecting her young.
A sad but powerful way to protect her babies
It’s a very unusual and sad way to become a mom — but also a powerful way to help her babies survive.
© Stuart Blackman / Our Media
Octopus (noun): A sea animal with eight arms.
Starve (verb): To die from not eating enough food.
Gland (noun): A body part that makes chemicals for the body.