Bizarre Facts: Ink-redible Octopus Garden Discovery

MONTEREY BAY– A recent study has found that octopuses living in the deep sea off the coast of California are breeding faster than expected by strategically laying eggs in the warmer water of geothermal springs, which helps speed up hatching.   Ocean temperatures are rising and the acidity in the water is increasing, many species, including many corals, cannot thrive in these conditions and researchers have decided that some will inevitably not survive.  Octopuses are one of the species exempt to these changes.  As temperatures rise and overfishing decreases competition, the number of octopuses is increasing.   The animals lay their eggs near geothermal springs, and the warmer water speeds up embryonic development. That reproductive sleight of hand means that the octopus moms brood for less than two years, instead of the estimated 12.   However, with water temperatures teetering around a chilly 35-degree F, this garden is expected to grow leisurely. In octopuses, embryonic development tends to slow down at low temperatures, according to marine ecologist Jim Barry of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, in an interview with Science News. “When you get really cold, down near zero, that’s when brood periods get really long.”   The record for the most prolonged brood period...