Deep below the ocean’s surface, just off the Central California coast, thousands of pearl octopus (Muusoctopus robustus) gather near an extinct underwater volcano. MBARI and a team of collaborators used high-tech tools to monitor the Octopus Garden and learn exactly why this site is so attractive to these animals. After three years of study, researchers confirmed that Muusoctopus gather at the Octopus Garden to mate and nest in cracks and crevices bathed by deep-sea thermal springs. This site is the largest known aggregation of octopus anywhere in the world, with more than 20,000 octopus nests. The abundance of other marine life that thrives there underscores the need to understand and protect hotspots of life on the deep seafloor from threats like climate change and seabed mining.

Learn more: https://www.mbari.org/project/the-oct...

Video credits:
Producer/editor: Kyra Schlining
Production team: Kyra Schlining, Nancy Jacobsen Stout, Susan von Thun
Music: Octopus Garden by Catechism (https://cccatechism.bandcamp.com/)