Bruce Robison told Radiolab that in Octomom's first year of brooding his team used the remote sub's manipulator arms to break legs off a crab and offer them to her. They tried two or three times, and she refused every offer. Brooding octopuses do not feed at all, so she was slowly starving the whole time.
“Most octopuses that we know about do not feed while they're brooding.” Bruce Robison · at 8:45 — open in the transcript →
Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on Radiolab (2026-10-23). Read the whole episode summary →