Essentially their entire mating cycle is what causes this. They’ve got a gland behind the eye that puts them into mating mode and once it starts it never turns off until they overdose on sex hormone.
Comment on brain blowing orgasms
Mothra@mander.xyz 2 months ago
According to the article the females don’t fare any better either.
I didn’t know this about octopi, what’s the point, evolutionarily, to self destruct after reproducing?
roguetrick@lemmy.world 2 months ago
TheDoozer@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Holy shit what a way to go.
Get horny > have sex > orgasm > keep orgasming > die of too much orgasm
jballs@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Living the dream.
ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I wonder what would happen if you removed the gland? How long could they live and how big could they get?
roguetrick@lemmy.world 2 months ago
They’ve done that and they lived twice as long. washingtonpost.com/…/a8fabbce-0d76-400f-a9b4-e95b…
ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Fascinating!
Contramuffin@lemmy.world 2 months ago
There’s a specific life history strategy called semelparity, which is what you’re describing (breeding once then dying). To my understanding, this is incentivized if the chances of getting a second attempt to breed are too low, and so it becomes more evolutionarily advantageous to simply go all out on the first attempt
Mothra@mander.xyz 2 months ago
Thanks, one solid answer! It could be that it used to be an advantage at some point and now it’s just perpetuated
roguetrick@lemmy.world 2 months ago
To be clear, it’s still an advantage and for the ones that it isn’t they don’t die after mating. Most cephalopods are both predators and prey that life cycle results in a very high mortality rate. The really big ones though, like giant octopuses, have to work so hard to get so big that they tend to not die after mating.
TeamAssimilation@infosec.pub 2 months ago
Semelparity: “Fuck it, I’m gonna nut to death”
perestroika@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Yes. A bit similar process in sea-dwelling salmons: migrating from salt water into fresh water (quite a big metabolic challenge in itself), traveling up rapids to suitable spawning places (often a long and arduous journey)… after they’ve accomplished that, their chances of returning alive are quite low. So they mostly die. But river-dwelling trouts spawn many times in life, because their migration isn’t as costly.
I would suspect that something in how octopuses mate has an element of “return being costly” - it could be a metabolic return to the feeding and growing state instead of a physical return.
omxxi@feddit.org 2 months ago
That makes sense, if there is an organism that is a very good predator, and the chances to breed a second time are too low, then if the organism doesn’t die it will be consuming the resources of those who can breed. Natural selection must prioritize having descendents over long living, because not having descendents is extinction.
thefartographer@lemm.ee 2 months ago
To prevent decrepit politicians who already had their chance from usurping the resources of the next generation and pulling up the ladder behind them?
You know… Octopus politicians
Mothra@mander.xyz 2 months ago
Hmmm… Looking at Cthulu and not sure what to think about here
rovingnothing29@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Stayed a virgin long enough for the wizard powers to really kick in.
TeamAssimilation@infosec.pub 2 months ago
Pro: they die shortly after mating
Con: they leave hundreds of nepobabies
JayDee@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Not everything in evolution ends up having a point. So long as a problem does not impact the propagation of children it can end up moving forward to the next generation.
I would guess that if there is an Evolutionary reason, it’s probably that octopi with this drive reproduced More than octopi that didn’t.
UrPartnerInCrime@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
They reproduce so much because they forget they had already done it and believe they need to do it or else
MinFapper@startrek.website 2 months ago
Evolution doesn’t care what happens to you after reproduction because you’ve already passed on your genes at that point
SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 2 months ago
I mean, yes, but if you’re not a vegetable afterwards, you will have more chances to reproduce. Therefore passing on your genes more
Transtronaut@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 months ago
Evolution doesn’t make deliberate, strategic choices. Random mutations result in new behaviors/properties that may or may not be beneficial, and selection removes those mutations that prevent reproduction from the gene pool. Not every mutation will be beneficial, but as long as it’s not harmful enough to stop reproduction, it can persist.
If there were two groups of octopuses, one with the self-destructive behavior and one without, then there would be pressure from competition. In that situation, your point would have more of an impact. But without that pressure, there’s nothing to drive the selection. And the mutation won’t occur just because it would be helpful for it to do so - it’s random.
At least, that’s how I understand it. I’m not a biologist or anything.
SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 2 months ago
yes, that’s the point I’m trying to reinforce. There has to be “a reason” that getting stupider after mating is a succesful trait, otherwise it wouldn’t be there.
The question that was asked was: what is the reason? So far I’ve only seen speculation in this thread
Quill7513@slrpnk.net 2 months ago
yeah but octopi are intensely successful hunters. this may be either a mechanism that helps prevent resource scarcity, or it could prevent parent/offspring mating
deo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
They also lay tens of thousands of eggs at once.
psud@aussie.zone 2 months ago
Take that point and explain humans living to about 100 after breeding from 20 to 40
zeca@lemmy.eco.br 2 months ago
whatever works…
houstoneulers@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I read that it’s so the parents don’t compete for resources with their young, helping to support the young’s survival
Mothra@mander.xyz 2 months ago
Fair, another possibility, thanks for the answer
Scott_of_the_Arctic@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Reproduction is the goal. It could be as simple as giving the young a chance to out compete their r****ded parents for limited food.
cm0002@lemmy.world 2 months ago
There is no point, evolution is about successful reproduction and everything else is just random chance.
If a evolutionary tweak happens that gives your off spring better chances, but your arms fall off after sex then it’ll probably perpetuate.
RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com 2 months ago
Unless your species is a K Strategist where taking care of your offspring/group is essential.
GBU_28@lemm.ee 2 months ago
But that’s just moving the goalpost, so to speak. You’ve just built a different parenting framework that requires you to stick around. You’re still hunting the same goal: self sufficient offspring
(Not negging you)
RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com 2 months ago
True, I’m just being pedantic and pointing out that “reproduce and that’s it” isn’t the case for some species.
Some species carry it on to “reproduce and ensure your offspring reproduces too.”
MeatPilot@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Just goon forever
idunnololz@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Gooners win again
serenissi@lemmy.world 2 months ago
nope, then you’d see some of same species showing the behaviour, others not.
activ8r@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Sorry I’m really struggling to parse what you are saying here 😄 my fault.
Can you explain further?
Demdaru@lemmy.world 2 months ago
To my understanding:
Nope, then you’d see some animals of the same species showing the new behaviour while other animals, still of the same species, would not.
Also my comment: We absoluteky see this, just on small scale tho. :|
KeenFlame@feddit.nu 2 months ago
No that’s absolutely not true, every part of evolution happens for a reason and those we don’t know, we research until we find out why
JayDee@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I think the point the other guy is pointing out, is that good and bad evolutionary traits are often connected - or more helpfully stated, evolutionary traits can have both benefits and drawbacks which don’t immediately seem related to the same trait.
It’s quite possible that octopi sex dementia is just a drawback to another trait which is very beneficial, so the dementia was just a bad aspect of a good trait that propagated forward. This happens all the time in different animal biologies.
KeenFlame@feddit.nu 2 months ago
No, that’s what I am saying. They are saying that it’s a random effect.
WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 2 months ago
Maybe them dying is the bonus, eliminating the old blood.
x4740N@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Wouldn’t it make them easier to he hunted by prey or just die from not being careful
People with dementia can end up getting themselves fatally injured so I don’t see an octopus can’t
So I don’t see how it’s beneficial to help them survive
helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world 2 months ago
It’s not but, the evolutionary goal is compete.
There’s no way for the octopus to pick a mate with out the side effect, so the lack of post-nut clarity continues through the generations.