Male blanket Octopus are just about as big as a bean and weigh only a quarter gram. Australian researchers at the rare blanket Octopus have discovered one of the most egregious forms of different sizes of gender in the entire animal Kingdom. The zoologist Mark Norman and his colleagues from the Museum of Victoria in Melbourne for the first time ever, succeeded to photograph a living male of this squid species and also to catch reef on a night dive North of the great barrier. Certainly a more than lucky find, because male blanket Octopus are just about as big as a bean and weigh only a quarter gram. They will just as big as the pupil of more than the 40.000fache heavier female. “A such exceptional sexual dimorphism is overwhelming,” marvels John Forsythe, squid expert from the University of Texas. Comparable known only from some tendrils foot crabs. Here however, the male is stuck with the female Coalescent and on the function of a pure sperm producer reduced.

Blanket Octopus (Tremoctopus violaceus) live constantly in deep sea areas and never stop on the sea floor. It is therefore difficult, the Australian researchers suggest, to find a female blanket Octopus in the ocean. The hard competition associated to a partner could have favored the emergence of extremely varying body sizes. Depending on the growth phase is shorter up to sexual maturity, the more the chance comes to the successful propagation. Way the females remained blocked, they need to be able to produce as many eggs remain large. The tiny are however didn’t have the temperament for a long life as Oktopusmann, they immediately die after their first love. Ulrich Karlowski