Many sequences of rRNA remain pretty much the same across all known animals. But Han noticed something unusual in those from the octopus: an unexpected gap that broke what’s usually one rRNA fragment in other creatures into two.

Given how widespread and highly conserved ribosomal RNA is, and how simple the mutation appears to be, it seems unlikely that this is the first time it’s arisen in the whole history of animal life. There must be some other tradeoff that octopuses found a workaround for—maybe it’s related to why they’re so short-lived?