Octopuses begin their lives as eggs, tended by their mother.
She lays her eggs inside a rocky den and may lay from 20,000 - 100,000 eggs over a period of several days. The female will tend the eggs, cleaning them and blowing water across them until they hatch, which may take from 150 days to seven or more months, depending on the water temperature. Upon hatching, newly emerged larvae immediately swim toward the surface and live as plankton for 28 to 90 days. As plankton, they feed on other plankton near the surface. If they survive, they settle to the bottom when they reach a weight of about 5 grams.