Squid, cuttlefish and their
relatives appear to benefit from ‘live fast, die young’ mentality as study
shows cephalopods have thrived over past 60 years
Monday 23 May 201619.09 BSTLast
modified on Monday 23 May 201622.43 BST
Octopuses, cuttlefish and squid
have thrived in the world’s oceans over the last 60 years despite – or because
of – human activity that has warmed oceans and reduced fish populations.
An international team compiled a
database of cephalopod catch rates, and found that even though the creatures
reproduce in diverse ways – some hatch and live near the sea floor, others are
born and die moving up and down the water column – around the world, nearly all
are steadily increasing.
“Cephalopods have this ‘live
fast, die young’ life history strategy – the rock stars of the sea, if you like
to call them that,” Bronwyn
Gillanders, the project leader and a marine biologist at the University of
Adelaide, told the Guardian.
Her colleague and the lead author
of a study released on Monday, Zoe
Doubleday, had a different analogy.
“Cephalopods are often called
‘weeds of the sea’,” she said, because their “rapid growth, short lifespans and
flexible development” let them adapt to environmental changes more quickly than
other marine animals.
This rapid life cycle, Gillanders
said, means cephalopods can “proliferate quickly, perhaps with advantages over
longer-lived organisms”.
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