I can't really elaborate or speculate but I'll offer my own observations .. I've had several BTA's over the years, most are one particular strain that I've had for nearly 10 years but I did also have another strain for a few years until the one I kept for myself died.
But anyhow. I've had many individuals turn into these grotesque looking things (fat mutant tentacles, LOL, yeah exactly). I don't quite know why they became like that but for the most part once they got into that state, they would stay in that state almost permanently - generally speaking not resetting to "normal" ("normal" in this case being either bulb tentacles or string tentacles) until splitting. And then it would be 50/50 that one would stay knarled-and-knobby or both post-split daughters would return to normal.
Anyhow, there's a lot about them we don't really have a good handle on .. part of the mystique, I guess..