Do Octopus Die After Giving Birth

Octopuses are strange and interesting beings that live underwater. They have a soft & squishy body with eight organs, and there are over 300 species of octopuses according to the research. But one of the most fascinating things about octopuses is their birth process.

Octopuses die after giving birth to their babies, and that’s not as straightforward as you might think it is. Rather, it’s a complex matter that calls for an in-depth discussion.

So if you’re wondering about do octopus die after giving birth, then let’s go over everything you need to know about this topic so that you get it clear.

Do Octopus Lay Eggs

Female octopuses lay eggs to reproduce, and this process in itself is quite fascinating. In fact, a female octopus can lay thousands of eggs over a period of a month. Also, the eggs are white, tear-shaped grape clusters, and they take quite a while to hatch as well.

What’s more interesting is that the male octopus sends a spermatophore to the female octopus’s mantle, which can stay there for about 6 months before the fertilization of the eggs.

How Many Eggs Do Octopus Lay

Female octopuses can lay over 20,000 to 80,000 eggs over the period of 30 days or so. There’s no exact number or time of the fertilization of the eggs or even the hatching as it is very likely to be different for each case.

However, octopuses can lay over 20 to 80 thousand eggs, and it takes only 2 babies to survive for the species to survive on earth. That’s why as most of the eggs don’t hatch, the ones they do are enough for the specie to reproduce and populate.

Do Octopus Die After Laying Eggs

Octopuses don’t actually die right after laying the eggs. It’s a gradual process and they die by the time their eggs hatch. It can take a few months depending on the hatching period.

Once the female octopus lays the eggs, it starts to stop eating and doing all the other things. As a result, it dies of starvation over the days. In most cases, the female octopus dies before the eggs are hatched.

How Long Do Octopus Eggs Take to Hatch

Octopus eggs can take anywhere from two to ten months to hatch, and it depends on a lot of things. Every case is different when it comes to octopus eggs as the hatching period can be short or long for individual octopuses.

However, as there is no exact time when the octopus eggs hatch, you can’t really say when the eggs will hatch. But, they take around 2 to 10 months to hatch in most cases.

How Many Times Do Octopus Lay Eggs

It’s a matter of fact that octopuses lay eggs once in their lifetime. Once they lay the eggs, they don’t eat food or do anything else besides hatching the eggs. And in most cases, they die of starvation before the eggs are even hatched.

Now you know why the female octopuses only lay eggs once in their lifetime. They really don’t have much longer to live, which is a shocking fact.

Can a Female Octopus Survive After Giving Birth

A female octopus doesn’t die immediately after laying down the eggs. In fact, it can take up to a few months to fertilize the eggs after mating.

And once the eggs are there, it stops eating and wastes away as the eggs are hatching. By the time the eggs hatch, the mother dies.

How Many Octopus Eggs Survive to Adulthood

As we mentioned earlier, a female octopus lays down over 20,000 to 80,000 eggs. However, most of the eggs don’t survive and waste away in the world of deep seas.

In fact, only one or two octopus eggs survive to adulthood according to the studies. That carries the species and they continue to reproduce and keep populating more octopuses in the sea world.

What Do Octopus Eggs Look Like

Octopus eggs look white and are in tear-shaped grape clusters that look fascinating. These can take up to 6 months inside the female octopus to fertilize into the egg shapes and up to 30 days to lay the eggs.

They lay their eggs in a den under rocks or coral reefs to protect the eggs from deadly sea creatures. That’s how they make sure that the eggs can get hatched without any issue.

Why Do Female Octopus Die After Mating

Female octopuses don’t really die every time after mating. But when they do it’s because of the optic gland secreting more sex hormones, insulin-like hormones, and precursors of cholesterol, which causes their death.

But in most cases, the spermatophore sent from the male octopus to the female octopus’s mantle during the mating process can stay there for up to 6 months before fertilization. That’s truly a fascinating fact on its own.

Why Do Female Octopus Die After Birth

Female octopuses are considered to be semelparous creatures. That means they can only reproduce once in their lifetime and they die.

As mentioned in our previous segments, they lay eggs, stop eating, and waste away slowly as the eggs hatch. It’s a really heartbreaking fact, but that’s what makes them fascinating beings of the dark sea world.

How Many Eggs Do Octopus Lay at a time

Female octopuses lay somewhere around 20,000 to 80,000 eggs at a time over the period of one month or so. However, that number is different for each case, and there is no fixed count on that.

Also, they lay eggs in braided clusters and in a hidden place where other sea creatures won’t be able to do any harm to the eggs.

Last Word

You should have a clear idea about your question, “Do octopus die after giving birth?” As you saw, the final days of the mother octopus and the care for the kids is one of the most beautiful things on earth.

Now, you know about the baby-making process of the octopuses and how it affects their survival. We should do our best to keep the ocean clean so that they live healthily in the sea world.