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A lab my wife worked in had an octopus who laid eggs in the tank. We watched them hatch and all eat each other until a few were dominate and then they separated
by lettergram 3y ago
A lab my wife worked in had an octopus who laid eggs in the tank. We watched them hatch and all eat each other until a few were dominate and then they separated them.
I always wondered if this was the natural order or if it was because they were stuck in a confined areas.
Regardless, was a pretty incredible and exceedingly rare event (most octopus don’t lay eggs in captivity).
- pvaldes 3y agoBoth. Cannibalism is normal "fair game" in the species. Is a main obstacle in octopus farms "Nobody knows how much they take to hatch but is probably several years" is just another example of wild bad extrapolation. Have they found the Megalodon yet?
- lukas099 3y agoYes, I suspect both. Cannibalism is an efficient way to divert resources to the offspring with the highest chance of survival for some species. But many animals also practice cannibalism only in captivity, and the increased stress and density both seem like they would promote that.
- Lammy 3y agoI learned this from Seaman lol https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/dreamcast/198567-seaman/faqs/8562 https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/dreamcast/198567-seaman/faqs/8... “During your next visit, you will find that your Gillmen begin to use the antennae on their heads to suck the blood of the other Gillmen. While this may seem harsh, it is nature's way- survival of the fittest- and provides another step for Seaman to cross in its evolution. At first, they will probably only kill eachother until 4 are left, but in anotherday only 2 will be left from natural selection.”
- globular-toast 3y agoI notice this with the spiders in my house. There will be loads of the little spindly ones in my bathroom. Some are quite close to each other. Then one morning I'll go in and suddenly there will be half as many and the ones remaining will be suspiciously larger.
- boffinAudio 3y agoI'm reminded of my kids' Triops experiments. Its a joy to watch them hatch - not so much to watch them eat each other over a week or two, until .. finally .. there is only one Big Fat One remaining in the tank .. Valuable life lessons, that one.
- froj 3y agoI had Triops as a kid and never observed cannibalism. Is your tank big enough?
- boffinAudio 3y agoYes it was quite big enough, was the kit that included the 'large tank', and I'm very surprised you didn't observe it because we have done the experiment a number of times and always get a Big Fat One at the end. The banana- and fairy- shrimp population is harvested first, but when they are gone the Triops turn on each other like some kind of damp gladiator orgy. Its really wild to watch. We've moved on to Hydrae now, they are also quite battle-worn organisms in our house-hold.
- froj 3y agoI think back in the day it was recommended to have at least 5 liters per adult triops. My tank was around 100l and I usually had at least a handful of them. Always females only; the males somehow never made it. They would only get eaten by their peers once they died of other causes. Maybe yours were lacking some protein in their diet? First time I hear of anybody keeping Hydrae as pets.
- boffinAudio 3y agoWe fed them pretty well; I've never heard of Triops that weren't cannibalistic. The Hydrae are exceptionally interesting, we just collect glass jars of lake water and watch them grow over a few weeks before releasing them .. its quite an adventure watching the budding occur, seeing the growth, watching the nematodes being chomped on ..
- AndrewOMartin 3y agoIt's probably also because Octopus is delicious.
- yieldcrv 3y agoreminds me how I always get a kick out of people that draw their line at what they will eat based off of that thing’s intelligence. They’ll loudly proclaim the rest of us are just anthropomorphizing until specific institutions tell them that a particular animal is intelligent. And then they’re like “I cant eat that” and assume the rest of us a) didn't know and b) were operating by the same consumptive standards farcical, since their super late enlightenment makes them the dumb ones
- mattmanser 3y agoSo you get a kick out of judging people being open-minded and listening to scientists?
- yieldcrv 3y agoI get a kick out of them needing that to dictate how they choose to collaborate with other beings When the rest of us didn’t need that
- mattmanser 3y agoI love how you think you're representative of the "rest of us". A phrase you've used twice now. Clearly you don't talk to other people and think your views are in the majority rather than a tiny minority. Cute.
- yieldcrv 3y agoyeah I don't talk to any other people do you have a specific rebuttal to this? "I get a kick out of them needing that to dictate how they choose to collaborate with other beings"