Life of octopus dofleini

Essay by Anonymous UserUniversity, Bachelor'sA-, December 1996

download word file, 6 pages 3.0

kicks ass very informative

Introduction

This is a research report on octopuses in general, however will focus in on a particular species of octopus, the North Pacific Giant or octopus dofleini , which is a bottom dwelling octopus that lives on coasts of the pacific ocean, from California to north Japan. This report will cover the habitat, and lifestyle of this amazing mollusk, that is so often misunderstood. The octopus is a very intelligent, and resourceful invertebrate whose natural abilities should make this a fairly interesting reading.

REPRODUCTION OF O. DOFLEINI

The spawning of the giant pacific may occur at any time of the year, however the mating of the octopus peaks in the winter months, with the peak of egg laying in April and may. Octopuses reproduce sexually, and have both male and female octopuses. Reproduction takes place as follows: The male octopus uses his tentacle to take a mass of spermatophore from within his mantle cavity, he then inserts it into the oviduct, in the mantle cavity of the female.

This process occurs at depths from 20-100m and, lasts hours. With female octopuses receiving spermatophore up to 1m long.

Female octopus seem to prefer larger males as mates and male octopus may mate with more than one female in their life span, however the male octopus only lives a few months after breeding, and the female will die shortly after the eggs hatch.

Incubation can take from 150 days to seven or more months. The female may produce any where from 20,000 to 100,000 eggs over a period of several days. During incubation the female octopus will take to cleaning and aerating the eggs. This takes place at a depth of less than 50 meters

LIFE SPAN OF O.DOFLEINI

After hatching, the baby octopus (or larvae) take on...