It is exciting news for the Sapphire Coast Marine Discovery Centre, where hundreds of tiny baby octopuses have started to appear.
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But unfortunately the story does not have a fairy tale ending...
After two months of the female octopus in the care of the discovery centre, staff saw her eggs begin to hatch on Tuesday, October 23.
Staff were thrilled to see hundreds of tiny octopuses ushered out from underneath a rock by the mother.
“We didn’t know she was already impregnated when she came to us, so it was amazing to see the eggs fill the tank, they are still hatching as we speak,” SCMDC manager Kerryn Wood said.
Sadly, the birth of the baby octopuses means the mother will soon die.
“It happens with all octopuses, it is natural and a part of their life cycle, the nice thing is how many babies they have delivered to take on the legacy of nature,” Ms Wood said.
Once the eggs hatch and the mother dies the babies are left to fend for themselves by feeding in the ocean currents.
Although, the discovery centre’s static water tank does not replicate the right environment for the young ones to survive. Ms Wood said the baby octopuses need a constant flow through of ocean plankton rich water to survive.
“In the wild the octopus would eat the plankton that exist naturally in the water currents,” she said.
“But because they are in the tank and we are governed by law to keep them here, we have to make our own food for them.”
Staff have been busy in the lab to build up a bulk food source for the babies, which Ms Wood said will only suffice to see them live for up to 45 days.
“We will probably end up with a 100 percent mortality rate because it’s too difficult to keep them alive with just food, if anyone out there has $300,000 to give to the discovery centre for a flow through water system that would be wonderful!”
The creepy perception people associate with octopus can easily be transformed Ms Wood said, “once you have had a chance to talk with us and meet them and see what they can do you will walk out of here with a new appreciation and love for these guys.”
