Tangled love life of octopus
*A male octopus's hectocotylus, or mating arm (with pink lining), is
inserted into the female's mantle. * **
*They flirt, hold hands and guard their lovers jealously - yet they don't
even have bones.*
*The love lives of octopuses are far more complex than anyone thought, a
team at the University of California, Berkeley, reported.*
**
*Researchers snorkeled off Indonesia to watch Abdopus aculeatus, an octopus
with a spiky tan body the size of a small orange and arms 20cm to 25cm long.
*
**
*Male cephalopods were seen guarding the dens of their mates for several
days, warding off rivals and even strangling them if they got too close.
Small males would sneak in to mate by swimming low to the ground in feminine
fashion and not displaying their "male" brown stripes, the researchers
reported in the journal Marine Biology.*
**
**
*The animals usually mate several times a day once they reach sexual
maturity. Males have a specially designed arm they use to deposit a sperm
packet into the female, who retires to her den and lays tens of thousands of
eggs. Both parents die within a few months of mating, leaving the newborns
to fend for themselves*
*Octopus Sex More Sophisticated Than Arm-wrestling* * For decades,
scientists have viewed octopuses as unromantic loners, with mating habits
nearly devoid of complex behavior. But new research from the University of
California, Berkeley, has found that at least one species of octopus engages
in such sophisticated lovemaking tactics as flirting, passionate handholding
and keeping rivals at arms' length.*
**
* biologists witnessed an array of complex mating behaviors as they
snorkeled two meters or less above the shallow reefs of northern Sulawesi in
Indonesia. For several weeks, they tracked Octopus Abdopus aculeatus, a
diurnal species of cephalopod that typically sports a spiky tan body the
size of a small orange and 8-to-10-inch-long sucker-lined arms.*
**
*In the wild, researchers observed macho octopuses that didn't just mate
with the first female that crossed their path. Many picked out a specific
sex partner and jealously guarded her den for several days, warding off
rivals to the point of strangling them if they got too close. When flirting
or fighting, they would signal their manliness by displaying striped body
patterns.*
**
**
*Researchers also saw small "sneaker" males that moved in on unsuspecting
conquests by masquerading as females. They did this by swimming low to the
ground in feminine fashion and not displaying their "male" brown stripe.
Plus, for the males, size really mattered: "If you're going to spend time
guarding a female, you want to go for the biggest female you can find
because she's going to produce more eggs "It's basically an investment
strategy."*
**
*There are nearly 300 species of octopus in the world, ranging from the
giant octopus in the Pacific Ocean to the tiny Octopus wolfi in the tropics.
Mating is literally an octopus's life's work and can take place several
times a day once the animal reaches sexual maturity. It usually begins with
the male octopus poking the female with his long, flexible, hectocotylus arm
and then slipping it into her mantle cavity.*
**
*Once the sperm packet has been deposited, the female retires to her den and
lays tens of thousands of eggs, which she weaves into strings and attaches
to the roof of her underwater dwelling. She keeps the eggs clean by blowing
jets of water on them and is unable to leave her den to forage for food
during this time. After about a month, the eggs hatch and the weakened
mother octopus dies. The father also dies within a few months of mating,
leaving the newborns to fend for themselves.*
*"It's not the sex that leads to death, Huffard said. It's just that
octopuses produce offspring once during a very short lifespan of a year. And
as the research team discovered, that once-in-a-lifetime lovemaking session
is much more than just arm wrestling.*
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