A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
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This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
Good. They deserve it. Octopuses are dicks. They keep demanding you to call "octopi." Sure. When you start calling me and my homies squidi, I'll start calling you guys octopi.
But no, they can't see past their octopus privilege. As if having two fewer arms made them superior.
Octopi is the oldest plural form of octopus, coming from the belief that Latin origins should have Latin endings. However, octopus is not a simple Latin word, but a Latinized form of the Greek word októpus. Consequently, its “correct” plural form would logically be octopodes.
Nowadays "octopodes" and octopuses" are both acceptable, the latter being more regularly used.
"Squid" on the other hand isn't Latin or Greek, of unknowns origin, probably from a sailor's variant of "squirt"; late 15c., squirten, squyrten "to spit water from the mouth" (intransitive), a word of uncertain origin, perhaps via Middle Dutch or Middle Low German, probably ultimately imitative.
Post nut catastrophe :/
According to the article the females don't fare any better either.
I didn't know this about octopi, what's the point, evolutionarily, to self destruct after reproducing?
what's the point, evolutionarily, to self destruct after reproducing?
There is no point, evolution is about successful reproduction and everything else is just random chance.
If a evolutionary tweak happens that gives your off spring better chances, but your arms fall off after sex then it'll probably perpetuate.
Maybe them dying is the bonus, eliminating the old blood.
Unless your species is a K Strategist where taking care of your offspring/group is essential.
But that's just moving the goalpost, so to speak. You've just built a different parenting framework that requires you to stick around. You're still hunting the same goal: self sufficient offspring
(Not negging you)
True, I'm just being pedantic and pointing out that "reproduce and that's it" isn't the case for some species.
Some species carry it on to "reproduce and ensure your offspring reproduces too."
Just goon forever
Gooners win again
Essentially their entire mating cycle is what causes this. They've got a gland behind the eye that puts them into mating mode and once it starts it never turns off until they overdose on sex hormone.
Most cephalopods are voracious hunters that eat and eat to grow big and then once mating mode switches on they just focus on mating, which results in a shit ton of babies. Every step of that cycle has an extremely high mortality rate resulting in strong selection pressures for the best of every phase. When they do something, they go big.
Holy shit what a way to go.
Get horny > have sex > orgasm > keep orgasming > die of too much orgasm
Living the dream.
I wonder what would happen if you removed the gland? How long could they live and how big could they get?
They've done that and they lived twice as long. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1977/12/01/octopus-surgery-has-a-surprising-end-longer-life/a8fabbce-0d76-400f-a9b4-e95b8b93094e/
Fascinating!
There's a specific life history strategy called semelparity, which is what you're describing (breeding once then dying). To my understanding, this is incentivized if the chances of getting a second attempt to breed are too low, and so it becomes more evolutionarily advantageous to simply go all out on the first attempt
That makes sense, if there is an organism that is a very good predator, and the chances to breed a second time are too low, then if the organism doesn't die it will be consuming the resources of those who can breed. Natural selection must prioritize having descendents over long living, because not having descendents is extinction.
Thanks, one solid answer! It could be that it used to be an advantage at some point and now it's just perpetuated
To be clear, it's still an advantage and for the ones that it isn't they don't die after mating. Most cephalopods are both predators and prey that life cycle results in a very high mortality rate. If you don't hunt enough, you fail and if you get eaten you fail. The deep cold water ones though, tend to have to live longer due to less prey and have fewer predators so they tend to not die after mating.
To prevent decrepit politicians who already had their chance from usurping the resources of the next generation and pulling up the ladder behind them?
You know... Octopus politicians
Not everything in evolution ends up having a point. So long as a problem does not impact the propagation of children it can end up moving forward to the next generation.
I would guess that if there is an Evolutionary reason, it's probably that octopi with this drive reproduced More than octopi that didn't.
They reproduce so much because they forget they had already done it and believe they need to do it or else
Evolution doesn't care what happens to you after reproduction because you've already passed on your genes at that point
Take that point and explain humans living to about 100 after breeding from 20 to 40, and kids taking ~15 years to become good enough
Human tribes doing well is good for making children successful, old women have much better skills in finding whatever plant matter they're gathering, old men are better at tracking and stalking prey. The old people teach the young.
We evolved towards longer lifespans because groups that live longer survive and continue better
I mean, yes, but if you're not a vegetable afterwards, you will have more chances to reproduce. Therefore passing on your genes more
Evolution doesn't make deliberate, strategic choices. Random mutations result in new behaviors/properties that may or may not be beneficial, and selection removes those mutations that prevent reproduction from the gene pool. Not every mutation will be beneficial, but as long as it's not harmful enough to stop reproduction, it can persist.
If there were two groups of octopuses, one with the self-destructive behavior and one without, then there would be pressure from competition. In that situation, your point would have more of an impact. But without that pressure, there's nothing to drive the selection. And the mutation won't occur just because it would be helpful for it to do so - it's random.
At least, that's how I understand it. I'm not a biologist or anything.
This is how biologists interpreted ghosting
This happened to me. No joke. I lost half a standard deviation from my iq for each child i had. #dunceLife
Are you sure it's not because of chronic exhaustion for several months in a row instead of the sex?
I can keep it up for a good while, but several months is excessive.
The literal version of "man has enough blood to operate his brain or his penis, but not both at once."
What?
Octopuses didn't get post nut clarity.
or maybe they do and it's unfathomable to the rest of us
Eldritch knowledge beyond our understanding
Cthulhu was just a normal octupus that just kept on jacking off, reaching untold and forgotten knowledge, dooming this universe with his eldridge gooning
Octopus nuts and it realizes it's mere empty space perceiving itself.
Nutvana
If a human has sex with an octopus will the same thing happen to them? Asking for a friend.
Why don't you find out for us?
I'm not allowed at the aquarium any more :(
Oh well, we will ask the Deep, or a princess.
