Wednesday, Dec 08, 2004
Wednesday, Dec 08, 2004 |
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ANCHORAGE, DEC. 7. It was a May-December romance that really had legs: Young Aurora, a female giant octopus and its ageing cephalopod suitor J-1 were thrown together for a blind date seven months ago here by aquarists who hoped the two would mate. By all appearances, their fling was a success, and Aurora began dribbling long strings of eggs down the sides of its tank the following month. Though its mate died of old age in September, the pitter-patter of tiny tentacles seemed close at hand. But those tens of thousands of eggs remained pearly white with no signs of developing, and aquarists at the Alaska Sealife Centre — concluding that the eggs were likely sterile — began draining Aurora's 13,630-litre tank so it could be removed from display. Then, last week, a sharp-eyed intern noticed something peculiar in each of the eggs: two red dots. "I asked if that was normal," said 24-year-old Meghan Kokal. It was — for baby octopus eyes. Under a microscope, aquarists saw developing eyes and pulsing mantles. A brief meeting was held. It was decided that Aurora would stay in its tank after all. "We started to fill it up again," said Richard Hocking, the aquarium curator. To its credit, Aurora had never given up. Day in and day out for months, it sent waves of water out through its siphon gently to cleanse the eggs, and defended them against hungry sea cucumbers and starfish. It probably had some moments of "quiet desperation" last Tuesday while water was drained from its tank, Mr. Hocking said. As the water level went down, one of the aquarists placed some of the eggs that had fallen from the sides of the tank on a rock shelf. Even then, Aurora persevered. Aurora will stay with its eggs as long as it continues to care for them. — AP
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