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'Octlantis': Bustling Octopus Community Discovered Off Australia
By Jasmin Malik Chua, Live Science Contributor | October 30, 2017 07:07am ET
In the briny waters of Jervis Bay on Australia's east coast, where three rocky outcrops jut out from piles of broken scallop shells, beer bottles and lead fishing lures, a clutch of octopuses gambol among a warren of nearly two dozen dens. Welcome to Octlantis.
The bustling community belies conventionally held notions of the cephalopods, once thought to be solitary and asocial.
Indeed, Octopus tetricus, known colloquially as the gloomy octopus, has always been framed as a bit of a loner, with males and females meeting only once a year to mate. [See Photos of the Gloomy Octopuses Interacting at Octlantis]
Even then, there's barely any touching. To avoid being throttled and eaten by a hungry female, the male octopus uses a specialized arm to jettison packets of sperm called spermatophores into the giant bulb behind the female's head, also known as the mantle.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/60804-octlantis-octopus-community-discovered.html?utm_source=notification