Question

A female octopus lays a single clutch of eggs. She deposits them in hanging strips attached to the top of a small rock cavity. She will defend the eggs fiercely from any intruder. The eggs takes several weeks to hatch. During this time, the female octopus aerates the eggs constantly, preventing sediment and algae from growing on them. When the offspring are fully developed, the female gently agitates the eggs, which helps the young octopuses to hatch out of their egg. The baby octopuses are relatively large and disperse immediately and are capable of finding and capturing their own food. However, the female has not eaten during the entire incubation period. She is weak and will soon die. Based solely on this information, what can you conclude about octopuses?

Select one:

a. They are iteroparous.

b. They are semelparous.

c. They are anadromous.

d. They are catadromous.

e. They are diadromous.

Answer 1

Octopuses are semelparous . Semelparous means the organisms which lay eggs only once in their lifetime and take care of their eggs . They have less biotic potential and also lay small number of eggs.

Iteroparous organisms are the ones which lay eggs several times in their lifetime and the number of eggs which they lay are high . No parental care is given to them so their survival rates are very less.

They donot migrate from fresh water to marine water or vice - versa . They live in oceans .

Hence , the answer to this question is option b i.e they are semelparous .