What are these octopuses up to?

[Sas]

Mating? A fight to the death?

This was taken at night by a buddy and they stayed stuck together for a while (at least 3-4 mins) and were moving around the ground. I was curious as to what was going on as I have never seen them do that... My guess is they were mating but I thought with octopuses mating only lasted a few seconds so was curious.

Species: Hapalochlaena maculosa
Location: Mornington, Victoria, Australia

 

[pollywogg]

....it's clearly a buddy breathing drill. The one on the left is out of air....

 

[Cave Diver]

....it's clearly a buddy breathing drill. The one on the left is out of air....

 

[drbill]

Hard for me to tell from that single image. I've filmed them (Octopus bimaculatus at least)mating several times here off Catalina. Did you see the male insert one of his tentacles into the female's mantle cavity? Was there any inking during this interaction?

 

[Sas]

Hard for me to tell from that single image. I've filmed them (Octopus bimaculatus at least)mating several times here off Catalina. Did you see the male insert one of his tentacles into the female's mantle cavity? Was there any inking during this interaction?

I have a video from my buddy, not great quality (as viz was very poor and a bit of surge) but I will upload and post here as well.

When they were spotted they were already attached. No inking.

...it's clearly a buddy breathing drill. The one on the left is out of air...

Also explains why the one on the left is bright blue and distressed!

 

[mike_s]

....it's clearly a buddy breathing drill. The one on the left is out of air....

maybe it's part of a big "custody battle" of an octopus divorce?

 

[Sas]

Ok here is a short video I uploaded to Flickr of the blue-rings:

Blue rings mating on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

My buddy took about 4 mins of footage but I put the clearest bit on there as for a while they were under some plants. They start walking around mid way through the clip.

 

[Mr.X]

Octopus MMA fight!

I think the same as Dr. Bill that it's a copulation ritual with the male inserting his hectocotylus inside the female.

X

 

[Walter]

What are these octopuses up to?

Mating? A fight to the death?

With octopuses mating is a fight to the death. The male dies very soon after mating, the female dies after caring for the eggs.

 

[drbill]

Walter that depends on the species. Not always true with all species of octopus. I have no idea about the blue ring myself.