Live Octopus eggs hatching
To witness a PYGMY OCTOPUS with her eggs forming into tiny OCTOPUS babies in front of my very own eyes was a moment I will never forget. This small miracle happened today near the Sanibel lighthouse after strong west winds churned the Gulf Of Mexico all week to wash many shells and other live creatures up on the beach.
Octopus with hatching eggs
I met Lauren a few minutes before she found the momma “Octi” on the beach and after she had already saved several live STARFISH and other live shells that were getting trapped on the beach from the receding tide.
Lauren with a shark’s eye an starfish
When she felt one of the arms of the PYGMY OCTOPUS reach out and touch her ankle, Lauren immediately looked down to see the beached momma next to the PEN SHELL that was housing the nest of her eggs.
Live Octopus eggs hatching close
She picked up the little family nestled in the shell and shared this wonderful world of nature in the wild with a few other shellers then let her dad Ron return them to the sea.
I wanted to know a little more about how an octopus lays eggs so this is what I found from Yahoo Answers
“….The female octopus lays about 200,000 eggs (this figure dramatically varies between families, genera, species and also individuals). The female hangs these eggs in strings from the ceiling of her lair, or individually attaches them to the substrate depending on the species. The female cares for the eggs, guarding them against predators, and gently blowing currents of water over them so that they get enough oxygen. The female does not eat during the roughly one-month period spent taking care of the unhatched eggs.”
Look closely at this photo….. it’s absolutely mind blowing that we saw this at the perfect moment in time.
octopus eggs hatching
Lauren (on the right) with her mom Chris, brother Alex and dad Ron
That photo should really win an award – the way you can see the individual babies in the hanging eggs…AMAZING!
This video is a very good educational material. I never saw baby octopus just only in the books. Thanks.
Wow! What a rare experience. I heard the mother is close to dying when her babies hatch…how bitter sweet. Hope she put that live conch back too!
It was a live tulip shell, and yes, she put it back.
Lauren was holding the starfish and the live tulip because they were on the dry beach, she picked them up to put them back in the water but then found the pen shell with the octopuses. She’s the hero!!!
Oh, sorry, thought is was a fighting conch…that’s what I get for not wearing my glasses! She is a hero! Can you believe they’ll actually fine someone for picking up a live shell, even to save it? Amazing. As soon as you touch it it’s considered in your possession! Yikes! Hope I don’t step on one!
That was really amazing! How lucky we are that you were there when it happened and you could share it with us! Thank You!
Truly amazing!!! I have never seen anything like this before, what a great experience!!!
Amazing. I’ve found octopus in that same area but have never seen anything like this! Very cool.
How exciting!
What an amazing way to start the month of April! You did a nice job of gently prompting everyone to put them back in the ocean. What a guy Ron was going in to the bay fully dressed to save them!
heehee! Thanks, Nancy… How’d you know that was me??? ;) I’ve noticed that most people know what they should do with nature once we have a few minutes to satisfy our curiosity. PS- I did call the shell museum and they reiterated “Please return any live sea creatures to the gulf”.
This video was amazing! The baby octopuses were the little tin black things right? So cool! Thank you!
WOW. That was awesome!
I did “look closely” and you can see the babies within their eggs!! They look like tiny little pen and ink drawings…oh Pam that is just the coolest!! You just blew my mind. Isn’t Spring wonderful on Sanibel?! You have no idea how often you make my day with your ever so beautiful and fascinating blog. I must admit, initially I was anxious not being there shelling too ;) and now I see nature captured through your eyes and I could not be more grateful for the moments you share.
Wow thanks for posting this. I have always been fascinated with octopus.
Yay Ron!
How beautiful and amazing!! I agree that those photos are truly award winning.
That was absolutely amazing. Will have to share with Samuel (8yr old grandson).
He will love it.
Thanks to you Pam and to Ron for returning them to the sea.
Lee
Thank you for sharing this amazing
video with us! What an experience and to be able to witness the birthing process. Wow! A great save and rescue operation.
What a moment! Great pictures – so glad you were there to share it with all of us! I’ll be down again end of April, first 2 weeks of May – hope to see you again! Anna
Pam, that is amazing. You are the sea creatures Best Friend! Thanks to you they were returned to the Gulf.
This is so cool. How lucky you were to experience this in person. Thank you for sharing the video.
A lot of work to share with us these moments, thank you very much. The photo with the eggs really deserves an honor. Congratulation.I strongly suggest you:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/your-shot/submit
AMAZING! Thanks for coming to their rescue, now at least the have a chance to survive. Pam, this really is SO cool.
P.S. Okay, you beat the shot I got of the Lightning Whelk laying her eggs on my secret beach.
Going to Karen’s tomorrow for some buddy shelling, can’t wait!!!!!!
This was so cool as was watching bald eagle babies hatch on following link. I could not stop watching.
http://www.kwch.com/kwch-watch-iowa-eagles-about-to-hatch-20110331,0,439272.htmlstory
How gorgeous and stunning is that? Thank you for sharing!
Wouldn’t it be great if everyone cared that much? Sanibel Shellers are the best!
Amazing and beautiful pictures of what God has given us. Thanks for sharing. You did a great thing giving them back to nature. I live in Ft. Myers and love going to Sanibel for shelling when I have time. Wish I was there today. Our family went to Ft. Myers Beach for the Sand Sculpting Festival. It was a great time and a great day.
Pam, you are one awesome lady. I am sooo impressed.
Bonnie
Ok! Thats it!! ya’ll win handsdown for finding the most awesome find EVAH!!!!
That, my friend, is prolly one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen…….little gross too cuz fish eggs kinda make my skin crawl…..heheheheheh!!
Congrats on such a cool, cool discovery!
I’ll have to show my daughter this video. When I ask her if our grandson can come down in Nov. with us she told us he can’t miss school. What a better place for an education than Sanibel, you don’t see this in any school room.
P.S. You lucky duck, I noticed you’re on the homepage of Mucky Duck. Oh, and tell Clark I’m sorry his school didn’t win last night.
There’s so much to learn about nature and life on the beach, isn’t there!
ps- haha- Quack!
….Clark told me to tell you he’s still happy with being in the final four and thanks for the mention!
CShells
I take my kids out of school quite a bit to go to Sanibel, the island is one big marine biology science experiment. I also talked to our school principal about the time my daughter has missed because of our trips – she told me trips like this are just as important as being in school. She encouraged me to not worry, and to keep doing it. The principal even checked out Pam’s blog !
That’s awesome Molly! They also have a Seaschool during the summer that is awesome for kids. They teach them how to outfit a kayak, throw a castnet, etc. Can’t wait to enroll my this summer! This is an awesome site too!
Angela – the sea school is the best! We love it! It is open year round, my kids both attended for a week in Feb, and were fascinated. I had them keep journals of what they learned, the school gave them certificates at the end of each session – my kids were able to show their teachers and class what they did. Super cool. http://www.sanibelseaschool.org
takes my breath away
Wow nature is soooooo awesome!! Thanks for this.
This is just amazing! What a wonderful video.
Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for leaving such a nice comment on my blog about the little shop.
Have a great evening!
Hugs,
Debbie
What a great experience! :)
This was amazing!!! Thank you so much for sharing it! Rhonda (Shellbelle) sent me your way after reading my World Oceans Day post on octopus… I’ve never seen anything like this, must have been a fabulous experience! :)