That could be true. But all of the ones I've seen in nature documentaries lay their eggs at approximately the same time which probably were the most interesting

That could be true. But all of the ones I've seen in nature documentaries lay their eggs at approximately the same time which probably were the most interesting to document for laypeople not representative of all these. The four years number popped in my head from this one example, where she tended her eggs for four years but lives about seven years total. Given the length of brooding I would assume these do NOT lay their eggs at the same time like some sort of cicada multiple years cycle. The counter argument is these are solitary animals, so we would need to find a social version of these that do not lay their eggs at the same time, I'd like to see that in the next nature documentary! https://www.mbari.org/news/deep-sea-octopus-broods-eggs-for-over-four-years-longer-than-any-known-animal/ https://www.mbari.org/news/deep-sea-octopus-broods-eggs-for-...