[SmithL]

A gray male octopus (right) mates with a female. Marine biologists studied the creatures in the wild and found the octopuses interacted often. UC Berkeley photo by Roy Caldwell

[Paul Heinzman]

Octopus sex is more complex than you'd think

I'm sure someone in San Fransisco can say this from personal experience.

[martin_fierro]

She discovered that the males were very picky and discriminating, that the females would have sex with just about anybody, and that male competition for females tended to be violent and frequent.

Sounds like no singles bar I've ever been to.

[mnehring]

Reminds me of a joke on Coupling(UK) which I probably shouldn’t repeat here.

[gracesdad]

“Octopus sex is simple, dull and quick...”

Sounds like people sex after marriage (ducking and running)

[Cheapskate]

I wonder how much we ended up paying for these little gems of knowledge?

[KoRn]

/mark

[ml/nj]

I'm betting that this study was funded by our tax dollars.

ML/NJ

[lesser_satan]

I suppose when you have eight appendages plus the unit, it could get a bit confusing.

[The SISU kid]

Headline alone ping.....

8^)

[rednesss]

Anything out on porcupine sex yet????

[Slings and Arrows]

I didn't do it; nobody saw me; you can't prove anything.

[Yo-Yo]

[maggief]

Bigger is better

The researchers also observed males selecting their mates.

“Males prefer large females,” Caldwell said. “If you're going to invest in guarding, you want to get the most bang for your buck.”

The large females were preferred because they produced more eggs.

“It was very common to have a very large male next to a large female,” Huffard said. “He could give her his sperm without leaving his den, and she didn't leave hers. Nobody has to give up their apartment.”

There are a few jokes in there.

[Phlap]

I do my best to never think about octopus sex.

[RikaStrom]

The things you can learn here at FR. :-)

[Larry Lucido]

"lead author on a study recently published in Marine Biology"

[SwedishConservative]

Octopuses are believed to have roughly the same level of intelligence as a cat, which is quite extraordinary considering they are 200-300 million years older as a species. They have both short- and long-term memory, they learn by observation and they have remarkable problem-solving capability as well as the ability to distinguish between complex patterns and shapes. These are all characteristics which are usually only attributed to higher-order mammals. Octopuses are anything but ‘simple’.

Sorry for going off on a track here, a bit of a ‘geek’ on this.