Conner is a professional crab fisherman who fishes off the coast of Florida. He’s pulled up tens of thousands of these traps and often finds unexpected things inside them, like the biggest Hermit Crab we’ve ever seen, unique fish, and all sorts of other animals that accidentally get stuck.
In this video, Conner says he’s been waiting his whole life to find this in one of his traps, and it finally happened. He pulled up a trap and discovered that an octopus had laid a clutch of eggs in it! In all the years and thousands of traps that he’s pulled up, he’s never found an octopus protecting her eggs before. You can even see the babies’ eyes through the translucent eggs!
Conner did put the trap back down on the ocean floor, hoping to keep the Caribbean Reef Octopus and her babies safe until they hatch. He shared an update a week later, and you can see the fully formed baby octopuses! It’s so cool to see!
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What Happens to an Octopus When Her Eggs Hatch?
In the update video, Conner shared, “I couldn’t be happier to see that these eggs are rapidly progressing! Soon, the mother octopus’ journey will come to an end, and with that, the next generation of octopuses will begin their own. Sad, yet beautiful at the same time.”
The reason Conner says it’s a sad process is that after an octopus lays her eggs, she enters what’s known as the “death spiral.” The University of Chicago explains more. “Octopuses are semelparous animals, which means they reproduce once and then they die. After a female octopus lays a clutch of eggs, she quits eating and wastes away; by the time the eggs hatch, she dies.”
The octopus’ death is sad, but it’s a natural part of life.
This story was originally published by PawNation on Apr 30, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add PawNation as a Preferred Source by clicking here.