I think? its a chaotic mutation caused by the ‘negative-changing’ of the waters…Maybe along the lines of a ‘Cancerous’ reaction…The Regenerative aspects over-stimulated…Obviously…But why?

That was my thought also. In the case of starfish it is common to see two rays branch off from a severed ray.

The thing about the case with this octopus is that to me it poses some interesting questions with regards to cryptids. For example, it seems possible that some reports of strange mystery animals could in fact be of known animals with some sort of bodily defect, mutation, or abnormality such as is the case with these octopi I mentioned here, which happen to be just odd specimens of known species. Someone seeing an octopus like this may be very well inclined to think they were seeing some sort of unknown creature. Body abnormalities are by no means limited to just cephalopods, many known animals could exhibit these sorts of bizarre traits. It makes me think of the possibility of this being at the root of some cryptid reports, not that there would be a population exhibiting these mutations, but individuals could cause reports or even be mistaken for an actual unknown creature allegedly lurking in the same habitat. I think this possibility is especially relevant to some of the more obscure cryptids that have only been sighted a very few times.

Other physical abnormalities or mutations could cause cryptid reports too. For instance, in humans we get cases of giganticism in some individuals and this happens with other animals as well. An exceptionally large specimen, either through genetic abnormalities or through hybridization of any given known species could spark speculation of an unknown animal. Again, we could have a situation of a known animal with odd physical characteristics being identified as something unknown and mysterious.

Also, there are cases of animals exhibiting traits which have long since disappeared in their evolution, showing the genetic potential for some animals to occasionally manifest lost organs or other physical traits even millions of years after their last known ancestor had them. These traits may be extinct in modern forms of the animals, but the genetic information remains somewhere in their DNA and can on rare occasions physically express itself. I think something like this could also make for an unusual looking animal.

I think the potential for mutations, abnormalities, or the expression of extinct traits in known animals could certainly be behind some cryptid reports. I definitely know that I would do a double take if I saw an octopus like this while scuba diving.

I wonder if they were able to find out whether it was that kind of situation, or rather that it just kept growing limbs much like a tree grows branches (alright well not like a tree, but you know what I mean).

That is interesting. Thanks