> The first problem was keeping the octopuses alive. The four-hundred-gallon tank was divided into separate compartments for each animal. But even though students hammered in dividers, the octopuses found ways to dig beneath them — and eat each other. Or they’d mate, which is equally lethal. Octopuses die after mating and laying eggs, but first they go senile, acting like a person with dementia. “They swim loop-the-loop in the tank, they look all googly-eyed, they won’t look you in the eye.. (o)

the mating ritual is very alien as well

it's fascinating

first of all sex can be identified in octopodes(i) checking the 8th appendage

on the males this appendage has a small portion at the end without suckers, this is because the male uses this appendage to reach inside his head.. mantel cavity(ii).. remove a sac of sperm.. spermatophore.. and then place it inside the head of a woman (iii)(iv)

and i was told by a worker at an aquarium that if other males have already placed their spermatophore into a females mantel a later male can remove those when inserting his own

(o) https://orionmagazine.org/article/deep-intellect/

(i) http://grammarist.com/usage/octopi-octopuses/

(ii) http://www.asnailsodyssey.com/IMAGES/OCTOPUS/octopusMate.gif

(iii) http://www.asnailsodyssey.com/LEARNABOUT/OCTOPUS/octoRepr.ph...

(iv) https://youtu.be/4fkQZrfeYXQ?t=132