Octopuses mate in the dark through a divider

A male octopus on the left side of a tank extends his specialized arm through a barrier to mate with a female octopus on the right side of the tank, illuminated by red light.

Two Abdopus aculeatus octopuses, a species local to Okinawa, in the process of mating. The male on the left of the partition extends its hectocotylus to the female on the right through a gap in the barrier.

Date:
03 April 2026
Credit:
Sam Reiter

Copyright OIST (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 沖縄科学技術大学院大学). Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

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