Biologists Have Discovered 'Octlantis,' A Strange Underwater Octopus City
Marine biologists have discovered an interesting feature off the coastline of Australia — an underwater city of a species of octopus, Octopus Tetricus. It's something of a colony made of dens from shells and sand piled on, prompting scientist to call it "Octlantis," after the famed underwater city.
The set of octopus shelters, found off the shores of Jervis Bay on the eastern coast of the country, was spotted last year by scientists at a depth of 10 to 15 meters, or about 33 to 49 feet under the water, according to the Science Alert.
It's nowhere close to Atlantis, the famed city that is thought to have been lost under the ocean in ancient times. "Octlantis" measures just 49 by 13 feet, or about 18 by 4 meters, and as of last observation, it has around 15 tentacled residents in it.
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In terms of form and function, though, it's as close to an underwater community as it gets. Scientists have recorded ten hours of video footage from the site to observe the habits of the octopuses living there, and the resulting films were as fascinating as well as unexpected for these sea creatures which are usually thought to be solitary by nature.
The science team, led by professor David Scheel of Alaska Pacific University, noted how the octopuses would meet up and seemingly communicate, build dens, chase away unwelcome octopuses and, on some occasions, even choose to evict a resident from their den.
"These behaviors are the product of natural selection, and may be remarkably similar to vertebrate complex social behavior," Scheel said to Quartz, as the scientist pointed out this strange social behavior of this species of octopus, also known as gloomy octopuses.
"This suggests that when the right conditions occur, evolution may produce very similar outcomes in diverse groups of organisms," he added.
It's not the first time researchers have encountered this kind of octopus settlements, however. Another site was earlier discovered in 2009, still in the general vicinity of Jervis Bay. At the time, it was considered a strange anomaly, in which the gloomy octopuses formed dens and habitats around an unknown human artifact that looks to be made of metal.
Scientists at the time have called this octopus settlement "Octopolis," and at the time it was observed, up to 16 residents were living in it. "Octlantis," however, was seemingly formed up on its own, without a central feature like what "Octopolis" has.
Stephanie Chancellor, a co-author of the study and doctoral student in biological sciences at the University of Illinois-Chicago, pointed out that the gloomy octopuses may have simply been taking advantage of the rare rock features in the area.
"In addition to the rock outcroppings, octopuses who had been inhabiting the area had built up piles of shells left over from creatures they ate, most notably clams and scallops," Chancellor noted.
"These shell piles, or middens, were further sculpted to create dens, making these octopuses true environmental engineers," she added.
