Among animals, few life cycles are as dramatic as that of the octopus. After a single reproductive event, many females enter ...

The love life of a male blue-lined octopus is tough. Like praying mantises and widow spiders, a female blue-lined octopus will often kill and eat the male after mating. It's just a circle of life for ...

Male blue-lined octopuses inject a powerful neurotoxin into the hearts of females before mating to avoid being eaten, according to a new study. The males have evolved to use a venom called ...

Octopus mating behaviors can be quite deadly. Many species are cannibalistic, making the entire prospect of mating dangerous, and female octopuses often die after laying one clutch of eggs. Their ...

Along the rocky shores of eastern Australia, a small brown octopus is unassuming as it blends in with its surroundings. When the octopus is scared or hungry, however, it becomes one of the most ...

For a small number of animals, reproduction marks a biological endpoint rather than a stage in an ongoing life cycle. Death follows mating with such consistency that it can be predicted within a ...