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There was an interesting episode of Radiolab a couple weeks ago about a group of researchers who found a deep water octopus brooding over its eggs, and how they

There was an interesting episode of Radiolab a couple weeks ago about a group of researchers who found a deep water octopus brooding over its eggs, and how they continued to check in with it regularly. I'm not selling it well because I don't want to spoil it: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/octomom https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/octom...

nkozyra 6y ago
In that this particular octopus differs from others by not standing guard until the mother dies of exhaustion? That's interesting, I thought that was one common thing among all but one species of octopus.
- thaumasiotes 6y ago
  Huh? The podcast says exactly the opposite. The octopus was not observed to die, but she was observed to deteriorate. > We knew we were at the right place, we could see the -- the patch on the rock. And there were all of these tattered egg cases just in the spot where she had been. > Tattered egg cases means that the babies had been born? > Well, the first thing we did was search. Are there babies on the rock? Are the babies still here? Or did any of them survive? Or was it some sort of apocalyptic demise at the hands of all those hungry looking crabs? > So they’re frantically sort of searching around the rock. Searching and searching and searching. And then they begin to see little babies that are her species. And they see a little baby here ... > And a little baby there. > Little octopuses crawling around. > They’d been feeding and growing, and it was pretty clear that they were hatchlings from that clutch of eggs that we had observed. > And did you see her? > Nope. I’m certain that she had been consumed by some scavenger. How did "the mother definitely died after the eggs hatched" turn into "this octopus differs from others by not standing guard until the mother dies of exhaustion"? The only difference the podcast mentions is that this octopus has a gestational period about 50 times as long as other, better-known octopuses.
  - nkozyra 6y ago
    I'm not sure I follow your protest. I was talking mostly about the difference between "checking in" and not leaving at all, as most mother octopuses do.
    - thaumasiotes 6y ago
      The mother octopus never left at all. It didn't move until the eggs hatched. The "checking in" was done by the scientists ("they"), on the octopus ("it"). Not by the octopus ("they"?) on the eggs ("it"... cannot be used to refer to 160 eggs).
      - nkozyra 6y ago
        What a perplexingly hostile way to engage with someone.
        Spare_account 6y ago
        In case the opinion of a third party watching this exchange is useful, I felt that thaumasiotes's comments were reasonable and your comment above is the first to contain hostility. Your confusion may stem from the fact that you mis-read thaumasiotes's first comment and you were on the back foot from that point forwards.
        albedoa 6y ago
        Though we see milder examples of this all the time, it's still wild to witness such an extreme case. The only way thaumasiotes's comments could be viewed as hostile is if you consider any correction to something you said to be hostile.
        skinnymuch 6y ago
        It appears you’re being defensive. This is the Internet. You’re an unknown person saying the opposite of the correct thing checking in on OP. Their response seems reasonable for the Internet.
        6y ago

nkozyra 6y ago

In that this particular octopus differs from others by not standing guard until the mother dies of exhaustion? That's interesting, I thought that was one common thing among all but one species of octopus.

thaumasiotes 6y ago
Huh? The podcast says exactly the opposite. The octopus was not observed to die, but she was observed to deteriorate. > We knew we were at the right place, we could see the -- the patch on the rock. And there were all of these tattered egg cases just in the spot where she had been. > Tattered egg cases means that the babies had been born? > Well, the first thing we did was search. Are there babies on the rock? Are the babies still here? Or did any of them survive? Or was it some sort of apocalyptic demise at the hands of all those hungry looking crabs? > So they’re frantically sort of searching around the rock. Searching and searching and searching. And then they begin to see little babies that are her species. And they see a little baby here ... > And a little baby there. > Little octopuses crawling around. > They’d been feeding and growing, and it was pretty clear that they were hatchlings from that clutch of eggs that we had observed. > And did you see her? > Nope. I’m certain that she had been consumed by some scavenger. How did "the mother definitely died after the eggs hatched" turn into "this octopus differs from others by not standing guard until the mother dies of exhaustion"? The only difference the podcast mentions is that this octopus has a gestational period about 50 times as long as other, better-known octopuses.
- nkozyra 6y ago
  I'm not sure I follow your protest. I was talking mostly about the difference between "checking in" and not leaving at all, as most mother octopuses do.
  - thaumasiotes 6y ago
    The mother octopus never left at all. It didn't move until the eggs hatched. The "checking in" was done by the scientists ("they"), on the octopus ("it"). Not by the octopus ("they"?) on the eggs ("it"... cannot be used to refer to 160 eggs).
    - nkozyra 6y ago
      What a perplexingly hostile way to engage with someone.
      - Spare_account 6y ago
        In case the opinion of a third party watching this exchange is useful, I felt that thaumasiotes's comments were reasonable and your comment above is the first to contain hostility. Your confusion may stem from the fact that you mis-read thaumasiotes's first comment and you were on the back foot from that point forwards.
      - albedoa 6y ago
        Though we see milder examples of this all the time, it's still wild to witness such an extreme case. The only way thaumasiotes's comments could be viewed as hostile is if you consider any correction to something you said to be hostile.
      - skinnymuch 6y ago
        It appears you’re being defensive. This is the Internet. You’re an unknown person saying the opposite of the correct thing checking in on OP. Their response seems reasonable for the Internet.
      - 6y ago