> The maturation of the reproductive organs appears to be driven by secretions from the optic gland. These same secretions, it seems, inactivate the digestive and salivary glands, which leads to the octopus starving to death.
> In 1977, researchers removed this gland and found that the octopus' mothering instincts disappeared. She abandoned her eggs, started feeding again, and went on to live a much longer life.
As a reproductive strategy for an (arguably) intelligent animal ... this makes me feel sad. However there's plenty of octopuses around so in evolutionary terms it's a strategy that works.
As for the males - and this is the point at which my anthropomorphic 'yuk' reflex goes into overdrive - they die soon after their first successful sexual encounter. Males store sperm in one of their arms. For some species, 'sex' involves detaching that arm and giving it to the female to keep for later use. Then they wander off and die. Possibly from disappointment.
edit: to clarify, they're MAGNIFICENT creatures, and are a testament to the unfeeling unemotional beauty of actual Evolution - it has no plan. It is random. It only works because of odds. That some traits get selected for more frequently ON AVERAGE.
Sometimes that can lead to some interesting places...octopus, platypus, narwals. Hell, most animals are RIDICULOUS when you get down close.
But this curse of the octopus's intelligence being severely artificially limited so they can't progress and evolve.
Maybe the meaning of life is for us to use our technology and medicine to help the Octopuses live long and fulfilling lives and put them on a path to continuing evolution and together the human and octopuses species are meant to conquer the galaxy.
Alas, in this dimension, we fucked up and destroyed their habitat instead.
Asking for friend.
You can never really know the reason with evolution because every plausible effect is in play and part of the optimization process. Having said that, one reason for adults to die may be to conserve resources (food) for the young in times/areas of scarcity. Another may be to prevent excess breeding by an individual, which may reduce genetic diversity. There are probably other viable reasons as well.
That sounds like group selectionism. In what circumstance would this be deleterious to the propagation of that individual's genes?
The less diverse the population, the less likely timely mutations will help protect it. Incidentally, our modern society is pretty diverse, especially as we protect those who couldn't otherwise survive without modern medicine.
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/QsMJQSFj7WfoTMNgW/the-traged...
Among a single species, with a 50/50 split of a genetically diverse and homogeneous population, if you eliminate 10% of the former and 75% of the latter, the split becomes 80/20. If that distinction stemmed from genetic factors, you have selected for diversity.
Genetic diversity isn't only advantageous to the population. It's advantageous for the individuals that carry it, depending on the circumstances. Therefore it can easily be selected for.
There doesn't have to be a use for an evolutionary trait. It can be an utterly useless feature. The fact that it persists in this fleeting moment we co-exist with it in this particular million years, only shows that a feature hasn't been rendered extinct. Yet.
But of course, I believe that biologists can construct a cladistic tree that can calibrate how long a particular trait might have been around.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-funct...
And another suspected purpose:
https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/news/20071012/appe...
Seals on the other time... Yup; I can tell you than monk seals definitely eat octopus.
octopuses*
tis mixage of greik and latin eytymologies and wyll not bey allowed
by the way is your dad thomas pynchon?
I think the French would like to have a word!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Académie_Française
(On the other hand, rules aren't binding, so it's more like a "will of the people (if the people's will is large enough)"?)
There might be a few areas where official bodies are lagging behind usage ("postuler à" being one I have in mind), but I'd say that grammar nazis and teachers alike are actually somewhat effective IMO.
We have no evidence this is true. Certainly historically we know it isn't the case, there very strong evidence surrounding how languages drift over time that exist alongside contemporary pendants later proving to have not made a difference. But we also haven't really had a society with near universal literacy before so maybe that changes the dynamic.
Today I learned that I used it "wrong" all my life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plural_form_of_words_ending_in...
octopus
(ˈɒktəpəs, ɒkˈtəʊpəs)Pl. octopodes (ɒkˈtəʊpədiːz), anglicized octopuses.[mod.L. octōpus, a. Gr. ὀκτώπους, acc. ὀκτώποδ-α eight-footed, f. ὀκτώ eight + πούς, πόδ- foot.]
octopus
A genus of cephalopod molluscs, characterized by eight `arms' surrounding the mouth and provided with suckers; an individual of this genus (esp. one of the larger and more formidable species).
1758: Baker in Phil. Trans. L. 778 “The Polypus, particularly so called, the Octopus, Preke, or Pour-contrel.”
1835: Kirby Hab. & Inst. Anim. I. x. 308 “The body of the octopus is small, it has legs sometimes a foot and a half in length, with about two hundred and forty suckers on each leg.”
1880: Browning Pietro of Abano 401 “Help! The old magician clings like an octopus!”
1884: H. M. Leathes Rough Notes Nat. Hist. 46 “Saying that enormous octopuses existed on the western side of Panama, in the Pacific Ocean.”
octopus
b. fig.; usually applied to an organized power having extended ramifications and far-reaching influence, esp. harmful or destructive.
1882: Greg Misc. Ess. ii. 37 “We are the very octopus of nations.”
1893: Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 25 Mar. 2/1 “The electric octopus. Formal organization of the New England Street Railway Company.”
1894: Westm. Gaz. 12 Mar. 2/1 “He was an administrative octopus, a cormorant of toil.”
octopus
c. attrib. and Comb.
1880: G. Meredith Tragic Com. (1881) 206 “Then they laid octopus-limbs on her.”
1894: Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 460/1 “An octopus power sought to tear the human limpet from its clinging place.”
1898: P. Manson Trop. Diseases i. 9 “A strange-looking octopus-like creature.”
a simple reply to this would be that in no dictionary 'pu' comes before 'po' :)
granted, octopodes comes under the heading of octopus, as it's plural, so it is technically after.
but following the loose nature of the quote in hand, it is also in fact true that octopi comes before octopuses, it just so happens to be attached to the full word 'octopian' - suggestive of an octopus
the greek d was actually a hard th sound iirc, Δελτα being pronounced 'thelta' as opposed to 'delta'.
hopefully that clarifies (and is actually accurate) how octopuses and octopodes are connected
(pronounced "yew-nan-i-mwa" as in French "me")
;)
Pro tip: Pizza Pepperoni (Italy vs US)
Like "Vaxen?"
I am telling you not to be pedantic, but because I would appreciate to be corrected. Hope you feel the same. :)
[0]: https://qz.com/1446229/let-us-finally-resolve-the-octopuses-....
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/the-many-plura...
Octopi, octopuses, and octipodes have all been used. I personally think octopi rolls more smoothly off the tongue than either of the other two, so that's what I tend to use.
I find the arguments regarding Greek or Latin purity to be unconvincing- we are speaking neither language. We're speaking English, which is a head-on collision between the two, with Germanic trappings gluing it all together. I happily mix and mash whatever prefix, root, infix or suffix I like. If others like it and use it, success! Whether a theoretical Roman from centuries past would agree does not enter the calculation.
You could say this about any language and of course, it still holds true.
Every day, he'd come home from work, throw his hat and tie on the coatrack, and immediately head to the basement to play with them. If you didn't play with them, they'd die of boredom, he said.
Their favorite game was "jar." He's put empty Gerber and Ball jars in the tanks, with lids, and they'd swim in and out and in and out of the open jars. Eventually, they'd learn to open the closed jars. And then they'd spend hours swimming inside the jars, and closing the lids behind them, and trying different sized lids to see which ones worked on which jars. It was all very fulfilling to my father.
I don't know what happened to the octopi when they got mature. My guess is that he sold them to pet stores or restaurants or something.