Octopuses are not communal animals. Most live alone their entire lives. So, scientists were surprised to find thousands of pearl octopuses living together as they protected their developing eggs. The community is on the ocean floor off the California coast. Now, researchers may have solved the mystery of the strange pearl octopus behavior. An inactive underwater volcano heats the area where the mother octopuses settle. Their eggs hatch faster as a result. “There are clear advantages of basically sitting in this natural hot tub,” said Janet Voight. Voight is an octopus biologist at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. She co-wrote the study published in Science Advances. The researchers found that the area’s warmth greatly reduced the time it took for eggs to hatch. As a result, the eggs had a reduced risk of being eaten by snails, shrimp and other animals. Researchers discovered the nesting area in 2018, calling it an “octopus garden.”
