Most octopus species are semelparous: they die after the first time they reproduce. After mating, female octopuses brood their clutch of eggs, stop feeding, and undergo rapid whole body decline. Then, usually before the eggs even hatch, the octopus dies. This entire behavioral sequence, including death, is reversibly controlled by the optic glands and the neuroendocrine system, termed the “octopus self-destruct system” by early researchers. We study how the nervous system controls reproduction, behavior, and death in both semelparous and iteroparous (multiply reproducing) species of octopuses to uncover mechanisms of aging and longevity in a comparative evolutionary context.
Selected Manuscripts & Media
- Steroid hormones of the octopus self-destruct system
- NYT Science: The trigger that makes an octopus mom self-destruct
- Science Friday: The strange, scrambled genomes of squids and octopuses
- National Geographic Magazine: See why octopuses may be the ultimate sacrificing moms
- The Lesser Pacific Striped Octopus, Octopus chierchiae: An Emerging Laboratory Model
- NYT Science: The search for a model octopus that won’t die after laying its eggs.
- Multiple optic gland signaling pathways implicated in octopus maternal behaviors and death
- Radiolab: Octomom
- Inside JEB