Exploration Vessel Stumbles Upon Thousands of Brooding Octopuses

Nautilus’ encounter may trigger a more promising future for marine exploration off the coast of California.

Exploration Vessel Nautilus, exploring Davidson Seamount in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, recently released footage of their underwater vehicle Hercules stumbling upon an unprecedented number of brooding deep sea octopuses.

Filmed 3180 meters underwater, E/V Nautilus' Hercules shows the female cephalopods scattered in small groups around the seamount.

"This has never been discovered on the West Coast of the US, never in our sanctuary and never in the world with these numbers," remarked Chad Hunt, lead scientist aboard E/V Nautilus, to KQED News.

Though it's unclear what brought the mothers to the seamount, sciencealert.com hypothesizes the migration came about due to a potential predator harming their eggs in another region of the Pacific.