WATCH: Octopus hatches from egg, 10-second video goes viral
Digital News Reporter
Monday, February 12, 2018, 2:09 PM - A 10-second video showing a baby octopus hatching from its egg at Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center has gone viral with 2.4 million views.
The footage was originally posted to Facebook on February 6. The video above shows a Caribbean reef octopus emerging from its egg and immediately attempting to camouflage.
"While we are cautiously optimistic, it is common for octopuses to lay over one hundred eggs in its clutch to ensure at least one makes it to adulthood," the aquarium posted on the social networking service. "Thankfully, these little critters are going to receive the best possible chance from our incredible animal care team."
According to the aquarium, an octopus has chromatophores that change colour, allowing the sea animal to camouflage. In this case, the sudden stimulation of hatching caused the baby octopus to fire off.
The mother octopus is still active and has been "eating fairly consistently," the aquarium posted on the comment section of the Facebook post.
While the mother has been attending to her eggs, after entering senescence, the process by which cells lose the power of division and growth, the female octopus will eventually perish.
"The actual act of laying the eggs can take only minutes, but it can take her days or months after mating to choose when to lay them," the science centre noted. "The eggs have a typical incubation period of between 50 and 90 days, depending on the water temperature."
