Thousands of octopus eggs, laid more than a year ago at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, began hatching this spring, but none of the babies have made it past their species' version of childhood. The newborns face a future with the odds overwhelmingly stacked against life. Only once has a giant Pacific octopus been successfully reared from egg to maturity in an aquarium. It would also be rare, but less so, for the center to raise a Steller sea lion from birth to maturity. As thousands of tiny octopuses battle long odds, a sea lion born there in June is gaining weight rapidly.
The center's attempts at making history by raising to maturity one of thousands of giant Pacific octopuses born there recently, so far, have been unsuccessful, but aquarists in Seward are learning more about the species' eating habits.
Lulu, the main attraction at the center's "Denizens of the Deep" exhibit, has guarded her clutch of eggs, originally numbering in the tens of thousands, since she began laying them in March 2012 after mating with Felix, a male giant Pacific octopus at the center.
Aquarium curator Richard Hocking estimates there are several hundred eggs left, and a couple hundred to a couple dozen eggs hatch each day. On Wednesday, about 30 eggs hatched. Hocking said the center was raising about 1,000 young octopuses, but most aren't getting larger than a quarter inch long.
The babies have eight tiny arms with accompanying suckers, and they swim by jet propulsion. Their eyes are already well developed. For now, they're floating and eating near the water's surface. If they grow to about a centimeter, they'll settle on the bottom of their "rearing tanks."
But that has yet to happen. On the bright side, Hocking said, the octopuses are eagerly foraging. Aquarists have added sculpin larvae, as well as newly hatched herring to the marine animals' diet. Initially, the babies were feeding solely on plankton.
"They seem to really be going after the larvae," Hocking said. "And the fact that they're recognizing them as food, attacking and eating is a great sign."
Little is known about the eating habits of developing giant Pacific octopuses. Current observations should help develop new information on the species, he said.
The hardest part of rearing marine animals is mimicking their natural environment. The more the center's aquarists learn about the octopuses eating habits, the greater the chance one, or maybe more, will survive. But Hocking said he's staying hopeful but realistic.
As the number of eggs gets smaller and smaller, Lulu's time left is shrinking, as well. Both genders of the giant Pacific octopus die shortly after breeding.
Now 5 years old, Lulu is reaching the end of her life. Pacific octopuses don't live much longer than half a decade, and Lulu has spent most of her life at the center. A researcher found Lulu in Prince William Sound in 2009 and donated her to the center.
Lulu isn't eating, but her condition isn't rapidly deteriorating. Although she is thinning, she's cared for her eggs well, Hocking said. She covers the remaining eggs when visitors peak at her from above, which is normal behavior, he said.
The mother will likely be euthanized shortly after all the eggs hatch. There's no value in keeping her alive as her life will become uncomfortable.
As one life ends another is just beginning. A Steller sea lion pup born at the center on June 20 is gaining weight rapidly, said Dr. Lori Polasek, a marine mammal scientist at the center.
The pup's mother, 13-year-old Eden, is on loan from the Vancouver Aquarium in British Columbia.
The unnamed pup weighed 13.1 kilograms, or about 29 pounds, when it was born. It has gained 8 pounds since then. That's actually small for a Steller sea lion, but Eden is small herself, about half the size of average females, Polasek said.
Raising a pup in captivity means the sea lion will live its entire life within the confines of an aquarium. Prolonged human interaction does not promote independence in the wild, and besides, NOAA restricts its release.
There's still much to celebrate, as this is the first time since the 1980s that a sea lion pup has been born in captivity.
Perhaps the center can pull a two-fer and raise a giant Pacific octopus to maturity, too.
Contact Jerzy Shedlock at jerzy(at)alaskadispatch.com