According to the latest studies, the population of cephalopods boomed while the numbers of fish species withers away each day. Researchers are currently trying to explain the strange phenomenon, arguing that a boom in the population of a species is not necessarily a good thing.

It All Started with the Cuttlefish

The discovery was made after a group of researchers started looking into the dwindling number of cuttlefish. The fish, which are roughly the size of a raccoon, used to fill the waters of the Spencer Gulf, leaving only inches of clear space between them.

Now, the south coast of Australia seems rather abandoned, the bright rainbow colors of the cuttlefish painting only parts of the water. Researchers first blamed it on pollution, climate change, warming waters, and food shortage.

However, after they decided to check the numbers, they realized that the concerning drop in the numbers of fish coincides with a considerable bloom in those of cephalopods.

Squids and Octopuses Are Starting to Take Over the Ocean

According to data gathered from three different studies, the number of cephalopods has severely increased ever since the 1950s.

This is not the first time when octopuses and squids are believed to plan to take over the world. Other researchers theorized that cephalopods are starting to multiply faster than ever before, but Doubleday proved them wrong.

Now, the data is in favor of the octopuses and squids that are increasingly rising in numbers, slowly taking over the ocean.

Unfortunately, the news is not good. While some people may be happy to hear that cephalopods are thriving at the moment (like squid fisherman and traders), researchers are concerned about the phenomena.

This shift in numbers could be just another indicator of the massive extinction that we are currently facing. As it happened 250 million years ago, a few species are thriving, growing in numbers and rapidly adapting to environmental changes, while the majority of others are withering away.

Moreover, the cephalopod boom may be worrisome. The animals are unpredictable, so there is no way to tell what will happen with the oceans that they are slowly taken over by squids and octopuses.

In the meantime, all we can do is try to control the damage we already caused to the planet.

Image source: Pixabay