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Post-mortem decay

After death, if undisturbed, cephalopods[note 1] decay relatively quickly. Their muscle softens within a couple of days, and may swell; egg sacs can swell so much that they rip through the mantle. Subsequently, the organs shrink again; at this point the organism may start to break up into fragments. The eyes retain their size while the head shrinks around them. The gills may remain swollen at this point. After around a week, the carcass collapses in on itself and begins to disintegrate. The ink sac solidifies around this point. After a fortnight little is left but a blob with eyes, arms and ink sac visible. After a couple of months, these are only recognisable as flattened dark stains - although in some cases the eye lenses can remain intact for up to a year.[74]