Female octopuses are prone to eating their mates, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSexual cannibalism is very common in cephalopods.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen female blue-lined octopuses lay eggs, they spend roughly six weeks without feeding just looking after the eggs. They really need a lot of energy to get them through that brooding process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Male octopuses have a specialised arm for mating \u2013 known as the hectocotylus \u2013 which transfers a sperm capsule into the female\u2019s oviduct.<\/p>\n
Males have developed distinct strategies to avoid falling prey to their mates during copulation: the argonauts, for example, sacrifice their mating arm and let it drop off after mating. Other species have an elongated hectocotylus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe blue-lined octopus\u2019s mating arm is much shorter,\u201d Chung said. \u201cUnable to do long-distance mating, they need to do a mounting mating strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The researchers observed male octopuses immobilising females during mating sessions that lasted between 40 and 75 minutes. As the tetrodotoxin took effect, the females stopped breathing after about eight minutes, turning pale and their pupils no longer responding to light.<\/p>\n
\u201cMating ended when the females regained control of their arms and pushed the males off,\u201d the scientists noted.<\/p>\n
None of the females died during copulation, and they fed normally the following day, suggesting resistance to tetrodotoxin, Chung said.<\/p>\n
Envenomation by blue-lined octopuses can be deadly to humans; fatal cases have also been documented in green sea turtles in Moreton Bay, who accidentally ingested the octopuses while eating seagrass.<\/p>\n
Blue-lined octopuses, like most octopus species, exhibit semelparity, a breeding strategy in which an organism dies after it reproduces once. The males die soon after copulation, while the females die after their larvae hatch.<\/p>\n
Chung called the unusual mating technique in blue-lined octopuses an evolutionary \u201carms race\u201d between the two sexes.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the females became much bigger and stronger \u2026 the male eventually needed to have a specific strategy to make sure his genes can be transferred to the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The research was published in the journal Current Biology.<\/p>\n
This article<\/a> by Donna Lu was first published by The Guardian on 11 March 2025. Lead Image: Researchers observed male blue-lined octopuses immobilising females during mating sessions that lasted between 40 and 75 minutes. Photograph: Wen-Sung Chung\/University of Queensland.<\/i><\/p>\n Wildlife continues to face threats from overexploitation in the form of poaching and illegal trade in animal products, as well as a rapidly changing climate.<\/p>\n Due to growing threats, 70% of all animal and plant species are at risk of extinction by 2050.<\/p>\n With your donation, our conservation partners<\/a> can continue to motivate millions of people worldwide to take action that protects and preserves wildlife at risk.<\/p>\nWhat you can do<\/h2>\n