Octopus's Garden is not just a Beatles song: Researchers find one off California coast

It could be described as a happy accident, thanks to curiosity and advancement in ocean technology.

In 2018, researchers discovered thousands of octopi off the coast of Monterey, California, two miles beneath the ocean's surface. Their scientific name is Muusoctopus robustus, but Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) scientists gave them the nickname "pearl octopus" because that's what they look like scattered across the ocean floor.

But why are they there? Scientists with  MBARI said they're breeding at the location, but there's a unique reason why they're drawn to that particular site. 

NBC 7 spoke with MBARI senior scientist Jim Barry about the discovery. He said the sea creatures, whose mantles are about the size of a grapefruit and have a purple hue to them, are populating in the thousands at the base of Davidson Seamount, a protected subsurface sanctuary around 100 miles southwest of Monterey. 

There are around 20,000 habitating there, Barry said, though in the six-acre area that was studied, there were around 6,000 octopuses. With so many in one place, one can't help but think of the Beatles' song famously sung by Ringo Starr. 

”I certainly do and, in fact," Barry said, "I think this is called the octopus garden.”

So, the name stuck. 

Barry said the garden was first discovered in 2018.

According to its website, the Nautilus Live expeditions "center on scientific exploration of the seafloor, collaborating with the broader research community to identify priority regions and phenomena, and sharing our expeditions with explorers around the world via live telepresence." 

Andrew Devogelaere, a research ecologist for NOAA and the Monterey Bay National Sanctuary, told NBC 7 that the garden was discovered during a Nautilus Live excursion.

"There are all these foothills on the side of the seamount," Devogelaere said. "And then all of a sudden over this hill there's all of these round purple things."

Since then, scientists, engineers, researchers and several others have worked together to understand how and why these creatures are where they are.

“The discovery of the octopus garden was really enabled by some of the deep-sea robotics that have come about in the last several decades," Barry said. 

After observing them through a time-lapse camera for six months, scientists like Barry were able to determine that the site where the octopi go to reproduce. 

Barry said the females never leave their brood, while the males will come and go, mating with the females. Still, the question begs, Why there? What attracts all the octopi to that one spot?

”They kind of short-circuit the system by using this thermal spring," Barry said. "The water from these springs is anywhere from 40-50 Fahrenheit, and that’s still not very warm but it’s significantly warm [enough] to give them a boost in reproductive development, and that’s why we think they’re there."

Turns out, the octopus garden is really a nursery where eggs hatch after a quick one to two years, Barry said. 

”Maybe that, now we know where to look, they might be really common," Devogelaere said.

DeVogelaere wants to find how common the thermal springs. He said that geologists believe they may exist by the thousands.

”What’s the physical process for creating these warm water springs?” Devogelaere wonders.

And if it's the thermal spring that attracts the octopi, what makes them leave?

"You see this thing hatch and you’re like, 'Where is it going?' " Devogelaere said. "Nobody knows."

After hatching, the young then venture into the depths of the ocean for the first time. 

"How do they find their way back?" Devogelaere added. "Are they finding their way back?”

So many questions that still need answers. 

”The bottom line: We need to know more about the deep sea," Barry said. 

In the meantime, Devogelaere knows this: "The age of exploration discovery is still alive.”

So, what's next? Barry said team members with MBARI and other collaborators will go back out to the site in May to continue their research.