In a bid to resist male harassment and unwanted mating attempts, female octopuses were observed throwing debris, finds an interesting study led by a team from Australia, Canada and the US.
The study, published on the pre-print server bioRxiv and yet to be peer-reviewed, captured female octopuses on camera using their tentacles to gather debris, including shells, silt and algae, and launch it toward other octopuses with a jet of water, the CTV news reported.
“Some throws appear to be targeted on other individuals and play a social role, as suggested by several kinds of evidence,” said the researchers including Peter Godfrey-Smith, of the School of History and Philosophy of Science, at the University of Sydney.
This peculiar behaviour in octopuses has been observed by the team from off the…
