Aquarium releases octopus into ocean
Another outfitted with a GoPro
Giant Pacific octopus have a lifespan of three to five years.
So seeing that the young cephalopod at the Vancouver Aquarium is part of the ‘selfie generation’ then why not hand her a GoPro? Heck, give her eight. Aquarium staff recently let their octopus experiment with cinematography in the Treasures Of The B.C. Coast gallery. Give an infinite number of octopuses and infinite number of GoPros and they will produce Gone With The Wind — or at least Waterworld.
Last Friday, the aquarium, in partnership with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, trans- ferred another female giant Pacific octopus to the ocean off the coast of Bowen Island after noticing it had become reproductively active.
“We first observed the octopus spending more and more time outside her den which is a behaviour associated with looking for a mate,” said Ruby Banwait, senior aquarium biologist at Vancouver Aquarium. “We knew she was fully grown and seeing eggs in her mantle confirmed that it was her time to reproduce.”
Female octopuses have an ovary-like tissue in their mantle, the large cavity that is attached to their arms, which produces an egg mass.
When staff recently noticed eggs, they received permission from DFO to transfer the octopus to the ocean.
“We wanted to give the octopus the best chance and that included diving with her to the ocean floor, limiting her exposure to open water where octopuses are most vulnerable to predation, and finding a suitable habitat for her,” said Banwait.