8th October was the “world octopus day” and was celebrated across the world. This day is celebrated all over the world to signify the life of octopus and their various breeds. Sometimes octopuses are known as “chameleons of the sea” as they come with varieties of colours and can hide themselves underwater with the help of their different colours.
Octopuses are known as one of the friendliest underwater species to the humans. Though they are venomous but still some of the octopus breed love to bond with humans instantly if they are not being harmed. As the octopus don’t have scales and bones in their body, its easy for the humans to cook and eat. Octopus are widely consumed in the South Asian countries like, Japan, Thailand, China, Malaysia and so on.
Why should we avoid eating octopus?
Octopus is high in sodium content. Their heads contain selenium which could be deadly for humans. As per a research done at New York University, humans should not eat octopus as octopus is one of the most intelligent underwater species. They can feel pain and touch instantly and have the capacity to recognise faces too. Eating octopus could endanger the species and the aquaculture very badly. 2012 Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness says that all the mammals and birds should be protected for capture and misuse.
Another group of marine experts opined that, if we are farming octopus to feed humans, then we need to grow octopus three times more than the present quantity. Octopus are carnivorous and eat fish oil and protein a lot. This will negatively impact the marine ecosystem. At some popular seafood restaurants, living baby octopuses are being fried in hot oil to serve with rice or noodles.
5 fascinating facts about octopus
1. Octopus is the only “blue-blooded” animal on earth. Other animals have red blood in their body.
2. Octopus is the only animal which has 3 hearts. 2 hearts pump blood to their gills and the third one circulates blood to other organs, generally the third one stops often when they swim. That’s why, octopus crawl most of the times to keep their third heart active.
3. If an octopus lost one of it’s limb, they can grow it back again. Their regenerative process is quick.
4. The blue-ringed octopus from Australia is considered as one of the most venomous marine animals. They are out 5-8 inches big, but carry the venom to kill almost 26 adult humans with a quick touch.
5. In 2017, an underwater city was found which was created by octopus in eastern Australia. Almost 15 octopuses were found in this octopus city which was named “Octopolis”, where all these octopuses were living together and communicating well.
World’s first octopus farm in Spain
The world’s first state-of-the-art octopus farm in the Canary Islands, Spain have started bothering the marine experts and environmentalists. It’s a 52,000 square meter aquaculture farm capable of breeding and maintaining more than 3,000 tons of octopus a year. Male octopus generally die after mating as there’s nothing left in their body to live for. So you can simply calculate the numbers on your mind that, if the octopus farm is functional then how many male octopus will be dying during the breeding process.
Some of the environmentalists have started protesting in different parts of Spain and outside the Spanish embassy in various countries. The idea of breeding octopus is torturing and devastating at the same time. This farm is the place for torturing them to satisfy the taste buds of the mass octopus eaters. Octopus are being boiled in hot water alive, which is extremely painful for them. Though it’s a quick death for them but just imagine the pain they go through. The demand of octopus meat is the highest in the Asia Pacific region.
Just imagine, when someone throws hot boiling water on you, or your hand get stuck to hot utensils, how do you jump out in pain. Don’t you think it’s the same case with the living octopus as well, when they are being put in the boiling water to cook? I know, the octopus eaters, enjoy their meat but to satiate our own taste buds, we are putting a beautiful and harmless species through so much of pain and trauma. Octopus attack humans underwater, when they are in danger in any means, or else they touch and cuddle humans during underwater diving and they swim along with humans to enjoy their existence. Then, why can’t we enjoy their existence? Don’t they have the right to live fearlessly?