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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteA female Graneledone boreopacifica guarded a single clutch of eggs for 53 months—about four and a half years—on a rock wall 1,397 metres deep in Monterey Submarine Canyon. The 2014 field study measured an exceptionally long egg-brooding period, not the animal’s complete lifespan. Scientists never followed this octopus from hatching to death, so calling it the “longest-living” octopus overstates what the observation proves.
What the researchers actually observed
Bruce Robison, Brad Seibel and Jeffrey Drazen reported the observation in PLOS ONE on July 30, 2014. A remotely operated vehicle first saw a solitary octopus moving toward a rocky outcrop in April 2007. Thirty-eight days later, the team found the same female guarding eggs attached to the rock face.
Researchers returned 18 times over the following four and a half years. Scars on the animal helped identify the same individual, while the continuing growth of the eggs indicated that the clutch had remained in place. The female and eggs were still present in September 2011. On the next visit in October, the female had disappeared and only empty egg capsules remained.
Using those observations, the authors dated the brooding interval from May 2007 through September 2011: 53 months.
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Brooding period versus lifespan
| Question | What the study establishes |
|---|---|
| How long did the female guard this clutch? | 53 months, measured from May 2007 to September 2011. |
| Was this a complete lifespan measurement? | No. The octopus’s age before the observation and its date and cause of death were unknown. |
| What record did the 2014 authors report? | They described the period as the longest egg-brooding duration reported for any animal at publication. |
| Does the study prove it is the longest-lived octopus? | No. The authors suggested the species could be among the longest-lived cephalopods, but did not measure total lifespan. |
That distinction matters. An animal can spend years reproducing without scientists knowing how long it lived before or after reproduction. The observation supports a record-length brooding claim; it does not establish a record-length life.
Why would brooding take four and a half years?
Extremely cold deep-sea water
The rocky site was 1,397 metres deep, where temperatures ranged from 2.8°C to 3.4°C. Cold conditions slow embryonic development. The authors considered the low temperature a plausible explanation for the unusually long incubation, but the observation does not show that temperature alone caused the duration.
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Advanced hatchlings
The eggs grew from roughly 1.5 × 0.5 centimetres to about 3.3 × 1.6 centimetres approximately one month before hatching. The hatchlings were described as unusually well developed. Producing young that are more capable immediately after hatching may improve their chances of surviving in the deep sea, where finding food and avoiding predators are difficult.
The authors framed this as a reproductive trade-off: the mother must endure a long period of guarding, while the offspring may gain a survival advantage by hatching at a more advanced stage.
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What happened to the mother’s food supply?
Observers did not see the female feeding during their visits. That does not prove she went without food for 53 months. The paper says she might have taken prey from nearby fauna or eaten animals that threatened the eggs, but the researchers could not determine how she obtained nutrition while brooding.
Because the feeding mechanism was unresolved, claims that she definitely fasted for four and a half years go beyond the evidence.
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How many eggs were in the clutch?
After hatching, researchers counted remnants of the egg capsules and estimated that the clutch contained about 160 eggs. The count is an estimate rather than a direct inventory made before hatching, but it gives the observation a sense of scale: one female invested years in a relatively small, closely guarded brood.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why this observation changed ideas about octopuses
Most familiar octopus observations come from shallow water, where temperatures and food availability differ sharply from conditions in the deep ocean. Coauthor Brad Seibel said the finding demonstrated how little scientists know about deep-sea life and how shallow-water animals can create “limited and limiting ideas” about what animals are capable of.
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The study also shows why repeated deep-sea surveys matter. The conclusion depended on recognizing an individual by her scars, returning to the same site 18 times, tracking egg growth and confirming the empty capsules after the female vanished. Without that sequence, a single sighting could not establish a 53-month brooding period.
What is confirmed—and what remains uncertain
- Confirmed: A female G. boreopacifica and one clutch were observed at 1,397 metres in Monterey Submarine Canyon across 53 months.
- Confirmed: The eggs enlarged substantially and produced highly developed hatchlings; the clutch was estimated at about 160 eggs.
- Supported interpretation: Cold water and the benefits of advanced hatchlings may help explain the long development time.
- Unresolved: How often, if at all, the mother fed during brooding.
- Not demonstrated: The octopus’s total lifespan or a current, independently verified all-time record among octopuses.
So, is this the longest-living octopus?
Not on the evidence of this study alone. The careful answer is that it is the octopus associated with a documented 53-month brooding period in the 2014 report, and the authors proposed that such prolonged reproduction may indicate an unusually long adult life. A full lifespan record would require knowing when the individual was born and when it died, which this observation did not provide.
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