Octopi Fight: The Next MTV Show?

Video credit: youtube.com 

Apparently, octopi can also be baffled by “catfish” like situations.

In cephalopod populations, the males and females tend to live close to one another. This makes mating relatively easy. So easy that sometimes a male may not even have to enter a female’s den to attract her.

Another common practice is for the largest male to guard a particular female’s den, keeping her all for himself.

In the video above, a young male octopus thought he had a clear shot with a particular female that was relaxing in her den. The young male began attempting to attract her with his longer mating tentacle only to be shocked when the creature he lured out of the den was not the female he was ensuing.

Instead, it was a much larger guardian male octopus!

The larger male, clearly not amused, attacked the young male, defending his territory over the female’s den and the youngster retreated.

Although it worked out this time, the guarding octopus does not always get his way. Octopi communities include what are called “sneakers”. The “sneakers”, or promiscuous young, male octopi, wait until a desired female’s den is unguarded to attempt seducing her.

Octopi societies are so scandalous that they could probably get their own MTV show!

Pretty crazy right?

A special thanks to Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s Dr. Christine Huffard for capturing this awesome video.

Source: blog.scientificamerican.com