Hawaii scientists find tiny octopuses floating on plastic trash
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
A baby octopus next to a woman’s finger inside a plastic container at Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park in waters off Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Hawaii scientists found two tiny, baby octopuses floating on plastic trash they were cleaning up while monitoring coral reefs.
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
A baby octopus inside a plastic container at Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park in waters off Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
National Park Service intern Ashley Pugh poses with a baby octopus inside a plastic container at Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park in waters off Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
Hawaii scientists found two tiny baby octopuses floating on plastic trash they were cleaning up as they monitored coral reefs.
Marine ecologist Sallie Beavers of Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park said today that the octopuses were the size of green peas.
She believes they were likely either day octopus or night octopus, both species commonly found off Hawaii. They can grow to 12 pounds (5.4 kilograms) as adults, with arm spans of 3 feet (1 meter.)
Scientists found them months ago, but the U.S. Interior Department highlighted them this week when it posted a photo of one on social media.
Octopus babies hide under logs and other floating debris until they’re a few months old. Beavers says one squirted a tiny bit of ink when they released it in the ocean.
