No Prey Is Safe From This Cute Baby Octopus
Featured Image Credit: Oceana
By Jessica Kittel
If you never thought an octopus was cute, you might reconsider after watching this video of an itty-bitty baby octopus. As reported on cnn.com, this little octopus and his or her siblings were born back in February and a video of the birth at the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center went viral. The video (see below) showed a newborn octopus jetting out of its egg sac and changing from translucent to brown after emerging. Aquarium personnel explained that the reason for the color change was simply because being born can be stressful.
ICYMI: Your daily squee has arrived. #octobabies pic.twitter.com/D9e5T5bkun
— Virginia Aquarium (@VAAquarium) February 7, 2018
These octopuses/ octopods/ octopi (these can all be used interchangeably) are actually Caribbean reef octopi (Octopus briareus). These masters of disguise use their chromatophores (specialized color cells) to change color in the blink of an eye.
Image Credit: Stokes rx, Flickr
After laying her eggs, a female octopus’ sole purpose is to guard them and she does not leave for any reason, not even to forage for food, as explained on oceana.org. As a result female octopuses die shortly after the eggs hatch and the new hatchlings are left to make their own way, alone.
Luckily, they are pretty self-sufficient from the get go as is made clear in the most recent video of these little octopods. The video (See above) shows a teeny tiny octopus sneaking out of a shell and capturing himself a little snack. Eventually, this octopus could grow to weigh up to roughly three pounds but for now, he or she is just a cute lil’ hatchling.
Learn from our sources: Oceana and CNN.
