On the eighth of October the world marks Octopus Day, and fresh findings by scientists once again remind us how unusual these creatures are. Recent research has shown that in the distant past giant cephalopods may have dominated the oceans, and today they continue to astonish with their behaviour and the diversity of their forms.
Japanese palaeontologists have described an extinct species, Nanaimoteuthis haggarti, whose fossilised jaws point to a possible length of 6,6 to 18,6 metres. Apparently these predators lived in the seas of the Late Cretaceous and occupied the top of the food chain, rivalling large modern squids in size. Such a find forces us to reconsider our ideas about the scale of invertebrates in ancient ecosystems.
In Argentina, researchers have captured rare footage of the eggs of the Patagonian octopus Octopus tehuelchus. The female lays them in oyster shells and guards them, refusing food for the entire period of the embryos' development. The black dots inside the eggs are the forming eyes, and declining catches over recent decades raise questions about the state of a population whose conservation status has not yet been definitively determined.
In the Galápagos Archipelago a new species has been described — Microeledone galapagensis, a tiny blue octopus the size of a golf ball. Its short arms and structural peculiarities raise questions among biologists about how it obtains food in deep-water sediments. The discovery highlights how little of the World Ocean's depths has been studied.
These discoveries are connected not only with the past and the present, but also with the intelligence of cephalopods. The ability to use tools, to mimic and to engage in complex behaviour places octopuses among the most quick-witted invertebrates. Such traits allow them to adapt to changing conditions, yet anthropogenic pressure on marine ecosystems demands careful attention to their conservation.
Understanding the evolutionary history and everyday life of octopuses helps us better appreciate the fragility of oceanic biodiversity and the importance of protecting it.
