Month: June 2010 Page 2 of 3

The following is a true story and it was published in the Fishing Chimes journal Volume 17, No 3 in July 1997.  It is the story of a boy who was an avid aquarist who got home a common Octopus.  The Octopus got used to its new home (aquarium) within a couple of days. The boy used to feed it small fish and other fish food and they developed a friendship. The Octopus would also allow him to feed it using a feeding stick, but one day, for no apparent reason, the Octopus stopped eating. The boy even tried to force feed it with a stick but the Octopus just refrained from eating. With its tentacles it would push the food away. He started to get worried and so he inspected the aquarium tank and found that in the tank, there was something that looked like a string of pearls. He first thought that it was some kind of dirt and tried to remove it but the Octopus would try and grab the pearly string back. Only then did it dawn on him that it could be the eggs of the Octopus.

The next day, he went to the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute and spoke with the Scientist, one by name R. Sarvesan, who had done some work on Cephalopod biology in the late 1960s. The scientist advised him to record everything like water temperature, pH, the behavior of the Octopus, saying that it is very rare for an Octopus to lay eggs in captivity and little is known as to how an Octopus takes care of their eggs. He also mentioned that in the wild, the mother Octopus abstains from feeding when it lays its eggs until they hatch. The scientist knew something that he did not tell the boy, a truth that the boy will find out only after the eggs hatch.

Depending on the temperature of the water, the eggs could take anywhere from four weeks to four months to hatch. This boy watched patiently each day, hoping for the eggs to hatch. It took nearly a month (about 29 days) for the eggs to hatch and during that entire period the Octopus did not eat anything. On the day the eggs hatched the Octopus finally came out from under the shell (it used as its home in the tank) as if to see its tiny little Octopi babies swimming around. The boy noticed that his Octopus was now really lean, thin, weak and moving very slowly. He tried to feed it, but the Octopus did not even accept the food. It had taken care of its eggs and now they had hatched. Refusing to eat, it hobbled around in the tank and without warning, curled up its tentacles and dropped to the floor. It breathed its last and died that day, the day that new life had come into the tank. Later the boy realize that what the scientist had not told him, was that the highest degree of parental care is observed in Octopus and even in the wild, the mother Octopus dies the day the eggs hatch or shortly thereafter.

That day the boy, who is now grown and the author of this article, was sad while at the same time, awed at the extent of the sacrifice. Yes it was my Octopus friend and I learned about the extent of  True love between a mother and her babies. An ultimate sacrifice. Everytime I recount this true story, I can’t help but think of such a love, a great love that was demonstrated by God Himself, for all of mankind, his own – an ultimate sacrifice by Jesus of Himself, so that His children (you and me) can live. I lost an Octopus friend that day, but now know of a friend who can be yours too, who will always be there, whose name is Jesus Christ, the personification of love itself. Jesus said, I lay down my life for my sheep (John 10:11) and when God, THE JUST, warranted a sacrifice, Jesus the High Priest showed up to the sacrifice. He however showed up without the animal to be sacrificed; empty handed because He chose to offer Himself as the ultimate sacrifice, on account of us.

John 10:15 (KJV)
¹⁵ As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

John 15:13-14 (KJV)
¹³ Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
¹⁴ Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

Images:
1 – Eggs of the Octopus as the string of pearls.
2 – Taken under a microsope, the three eggs show the developing young (visible eye spots) in different stages.