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MONTEREY, Calif. (AP) – Scientists exploring deep offshore corals and sponges have found an unprecedented spectacle: hundreds of octopus nestled between rocks with inverted tentacles and covering 39 white eggs – a common posture in brooding females.
The cluster of more than 1,000 gray octopus clinging to clean, dark rock was discovered last week in Davidson Seamount, an extinct submarine volcano at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, said Chad King, a biologist marine.
The camera of a submarine discovered the creatures about 3 km from the surface during the first dive of the Nautilus, a ship exploring the sanctuary and broadcasting its discoveries live.
"It's definitely the largest group of ever-seen deep-sea octopus ever seen," added King, who is also the chief scientist aboard the Nautilus, a research vessel with a team from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Ocean Exploration Trust, a non-profit organization.
This was the first time scientists saw a group of octopus Muusoctopus robustus off the California coast, King said.
This type of aggregation of octopus has only been reported once. Earlier this year, a smaller group of about 100 people were seen hatching eggs in warm ocean waters off Costa Rica, the organization said.
Octopuses lined up in cracks of clean rocks near shimmering fluid seeps that had air "A bit like a heat wave on the sidewalk on a hot day" suggesting hot water, said King. But he added that the submersible was not equipped to test the water for temperature or chemicals.
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