The octopus will die after guarding its eggs

Octopuses are intelligent aquatic animals because they have extraordinary problem-solving abilities and amazing camouflage. However, overall, octopuses only live a short life, namely around 1-2 years.This is because octopuses are semelparous animals, which only reproduce once and then die. In fact, after laying eggs, the mother octopus will stop eating and continue to guard her eggs until they hatch until she slowly dies of starvation.According to researchers, this oddity has something to do with the optic gland between the octopus's eyes, a gland similar to the pituitary gland in humans. In research published in the journal Science, researchers removed this gland and found that the octopus's maternal instincts disappeared. As a result, the octopus abandoned its eggs, started eating again, and lived longer.Thus, maturation of the reproductive organs appears to be driven by secretions from the optic glands. These same secretions also deactivate the digestive and salivary glands causing octopuses to starve to death after laying eggs.