Scientists exploring the sea floor off the coast of central California found more than 1,000 octopuses tucked between rocks with their tentacles inverted and covering clusters of white eggs -a pose common among brooding females.
Ocean Exploration Trust biologists made the discovery last week nearly 2 miles below the surface off the coast of Monterey.
The cluster of octopuses glowing in the dark was captured on October 23rd by a submersible's camera during the first dive of the Nautilus, a vessel exploring the Davidson Seamount in NOAA's Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
Researchers say this kind of aggregation of deep-sea octopuses has been reported only once before, when a smaller group of about 100 were spotted brooding eggs in the ocean off Costa Rica.