Excuse me, dear, which octopus are you?Male blue-ringed octopuses The blue-ringed octopuses (genus Hapalochlaena) are three or four small octopus species that live in tide pools in the Pacific Ocean, from Japan to Australia. They are currently recognized as one of the world's most venomous animals. seem to get pretty far along in courtship before they know for sure whether they've found a genuine female, report California researchers. Males reached out and touched another male as readily as a female, say Mary W. Cheng and Roy L. Caldwell of the University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley is a public research university located in Berkeley, California, United States. Commonly referred to as UC Berkeley, Berkeley and Cal . In the July ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR, the researchers discuss 15 close encounters between male octopuses and 9 between a male and a female. Watching the Australian species Hapalochlaena lunulata in a lab revealed no apparent differences between male octopuses approaching another male and those flirting with a female. Whatever the target's gender, a male octopus placed its specialized sperm-transfer appendage appendage /ap·pen·dage/ (ah-pen´dij) a subordinate portion of a structure, or an outgrowth, such as a tail. epiploic appendages see under appendix . , the hectocotylus hec·to·cot·y·lus n. pl. hec·to·cot·y·li A modified arm of the male of certain cephalopods, such as the octopus, functioning as a reproductive organ in the transference of sperm to the mantle cavity of the female. , into the main body cavity body cavity n. See coelom. of the other octopus. Then things changed. The initiating male released a sperm package only into females. Contact time differed, as well. A male stayed in position with a female for about 160 minutes--at which point she ended the contact, often with force. A male that had reached into another male, however, withdrew in about 30 seconds, no force required. |
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