Fans Say Goodbye to Ghost, the California Octopus Spending Her Last Days Protecting Eggs

Ghost is a giant Pacific octopus, a former internet sensation, and a currently dying icon living in the Aquarium of the Pacific in California.

Ghost has been living in the aquarium since May 2024 and arrived as a three-pound cephalopod overflowing with charisma. She’d grown into a 48-pound celebrity, drawing in fans, inspiring tattoos, and charming aquarium staff. It was all unusual for octopi, who usually prefer isolation and scurrying from danger.

Ghost is nearing the end. She’s transitioning to a natural end-stage of octopus life known as senescence. It’s a slow-fade-out period that begins after the first and only time a female lays eggs and devotes her remaining weeks to guarding them.

She, and nearly every other female octopus, becomes so singularly focused on caring for her unborn