FAQ
A contribution of The Cephalopod Page
| Question: |
|---|
| Aloha,I operate a scuba diving business in Hawaii and had a recent disagreement with a customer regarding the age of octopuses. I thought that most, if not all, live for 1 - 3 years. Do the larger varieties in the Pacific North West live longer? My diver claimed to have regularly visited a large octopus for up to 12 years. Could this have been the same octopus or just a nice spot regularly inhabited by new generations? Mike Milligan |
| Answer: |
| Aloha Mike,
Most octopuses live for a single year. Species that live in warm water often have even shorter life-spans as do those that mature at small sizes. Excluding deep-sea octopuses, the Giant Pacific Octopus holds the record for lifespan. Their lifespan is about 3 years and occurs in fairly cold water (10 degrees C). There is likely some variation in their lifespan and estimates range from 1.5 to 5 years.
In any case, a 12 year life-span just isn't going to be found in any commonly found octopus. If any octopus has such a life-span it would have to be a deep-sea or polar species living in near freezing water. In my work I estimated a minimum of a 6 year life-span for the deep-sea octopus Bathypolypus arcticus. As far as I know, that is the longest life-span ever proposed for any species of octopus.
I'd go with the theory that the diver found a nice spot that was regularly inhabited.
Mahalo, Dr. James Wood |