Blanket Octopus

The blanket octopus displays the most extreme sexual size dimorphism in the animal kingdom. Females grow to 6 feet and weigh up to 40,000 times more than males, which barely reach an inch. Males are essentially disposable reproductive packets - they detach their sperm-carrying arm (the hectocotylus) and die shortly after mating. The female stores the arm until she needs it. This makes anglerfish sexual parasitism look moderate.

The evolutionary logic is resource allocation. In the open ocean where blanket octopuses live, female survival and egg production determine reproductive success. Males contribute only sperm. Why waste resources growing large males when a detachable sperm packet suffices? The female's flowing 'blanket' membrane may deter predators and attract prey; she's the hunting platform, the egg factory, the entire reproductive investment. Males are minimized to the smallest viable sperm delivery system.

For business, blanket octopuses illuminate extreme resource asymmetry between functions. Some business functions are blanket octopus females - they receive overwhelming resource investment because they determine organizational success. Other functions are blanket octopus males - minimized to the smallest viable operation because they contribute only one essential input. The pattern appears in organizations that massively invest in engineering while minimizing HR, or in sales while minimizing product, depending on what drives success. The question isn't whether all functions matter but which functions warrant blanket octopus-scale investment.