Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Life of Octopus Dofleini :: essays research papers
Life of Octopus Dofleini 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 the role of plankton, drifting around the ocean feeding on neuston (dead food) as opposed to hunting live prey. This stage on an average lasts for 30-90 days.      Without mating the octopus may survive up to five years, and Giant Pacific octopus have been found to reach a weight of 600 pounds, and an estimated width of over 31 feet, But the average size is only 100 pounds and 3m, still weighing in as the largest species of octopus.      During their life span, many octopus fall victim to fatal, and non-fatal predation. Therefore a high percentage of octopus are mutilated or missing arms, this percentage increases in octopus that live in deep water, perhaps this is because older octopus tend to occupy deeper waters and would naturally have more battle scars. However larger octopus are less prone to these injuries.
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