Researchers discover surprising hunting Behavior among Octopus

And the peak of this story is that mating pairs were seen to be living together, sharing a single den and sharing food, a very lovey-dovey kind of behavior, never seen before in octopuses.

Researchers have discovered a romantic tropical octopus which creeps up behind prey, gently taps it on the shoulder, and scares it into its arms.

When having sex, they grab each other’s arms sucker-to-sucker and mate beak-to-beak. Other octopus species would win the gold medal of parental sacrifice: After laying their eggs, females starve to death in order to protect them until they hatch. Such freakish reproductive behaviors are proof that scientists still have much to learn about these bulbous and intelligent sea creatures. They are also more social and more intelligent than other octopuses.

“The next step to understanding the unique behaviors found in the larger Pacific striped octopus will be to observe groups in their natural habitat”, says Caldwell.

Caldwell said that the octopus, which was about the size of his little finger, was striped and pretty.

Daniel Rokhsar, lead author of the study and a researcher from UC Berkeley and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, said that the new study will reveal more about octopus genetics. While most species are solitary, these have been seen in groups of up to 40 off the Pacific coasts of Nicaragua and Panama.

The species has no formal name, is known only as the larger Pacific striped octopus, and has yet to be officially described in the scientific literature.

Most male octopi are justifiably afraid of being killed and eaten by their mates. He’s been studying them ever since, and his findings were published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE. The females would then reproduce multiple times.

The larger Pacific striped octopus exhibits a striking high-contrast display of colors and patterns, which can vary from a pale to dark reddish-brown hue to black with white stripes, and spots with both smooth and uneven skin textures.

Caldwell said although they “tolerate one another and sometimes pair up” he didn’t think they were highly social. There are more than 300 species of octopus and each year another new species bursts out from the underwater territories of oceans.

“Only by observing the context in which these behaviors occur in the wild can we begin to piece together how this octopus has evolved behaviors so radically different from what occurs in most other species of octopus”, he added.