[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]This is the Larger Pacific Striped Octopus (LPSO), or the "kissing" octopus. Most octopi have a special "arm" for mating called a hectocotylus which they use to maintain a safe breeding distance from ornery lovers, but the LPSO has a different tactic for mating: they pretty much hug each other and make out which usually isn't such a good idea considering the known cannibalistic nature of most Cephalopods... The LPSO is the only known octopus to mate beak to beak and has thus been dubbed the "kissing" octopus.
But that's not all this amazing Cephalopod has to teach us about octopus social and mating structures: the LPSO is a social species where females will share dens with males, males will share dens with other males, and there have been reported incidences of up to 40 individuals in a social group. Mostly all other octopus species are thought to lead solitary lives. Not only that, but also the LPSO is iteroparous, which means the female can brood and hatch multiple clutches of offspring over her lifetime instead of dying after (or likely before) her first and only clutch like most other octopus species. In fact there is only one other known iteroparous octopus: the Lesser Pacific Striped Octopus.
And now this amazing Cephalopod will be on display to the public for the first time ever outside of the Pacific Ocean at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco!!!
Sat Mar 23, 2013 9:41 am
