Off Vancouver Island is a nursery of deep-sea octopuses brooding their eggs. This is one of four known octopus nurseries in the world, according to DFO researchers.
An octopus and a diver near Campbell River, B.C., described as one of the best spots to see octopuses in western Canada.
Months prior, the German scientific research organization GEOMAR and Natural Resources Canada discovered bubbles traveling 1.5 kilometres through the water column, indicating a methane seep from the seafloor, shared Du Preez. This was the reason they went to the site. She added that this process also “creates carbonate rocks that are then habitat on the seafloor that otherwise weren’t there.”
“It's a beautiful deep-sea octopus, very charismatic, purple, big black eyes,” said Du Preez. “[They] sit on their eggs, don't move, don't eat and just defend the eggs for a minimum of four and a half years.”Cold seeps are recognized by the Canadian government to be among ecologically and biologically significant areas.
The crew counted 25 easily-spotted octopuses, though Du Preez said she has “no doubt that there were hundreds more than what we saw.” “If you didn't have that nursery ground…you almost couldn't imagine the ripple effect, if that wasn't a safe place for the octopus,” said Du Preez. “You might not have that type of octopus anywhere along the North American continental slope - all five coasts - because they all come from that one nursery ground.”
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