Behavior and Ecology

Intelligence

octopus holding a clear jar — Octopus holding a Jar

Oktopus opening a container with screw cap By Matthias Kabel / CC BY 2.5

Octopuses demonstrate high intelligence and, through various experiments including maze and problem-solving, show evidence that they're capable of storing short and long-term information. Octopuses have also been observed to engage in behavior that may indicate sentience, such as:

Escaping enclosure: in search of food octopuses may break out of aquariums
Play: catching and releasing toys or other obects in their aquarium
Tool Use: collecting coconut shells to create shelter

Locomotion

Red octopus propelling throug water — Day Octopus Swimming

Day OctopusBy Doug Finney/ CC BY-NC 2.0

Octopuses move mainly by crawling slowly and swimming in a head-first position. The faster way of moving for an octopus is backward swimming, also known as jet propulsion. When crawling along the ocean floor, an octopus will extend its arms forward, adhere its suckers to the rocky surface, and propel itself forward.

Feeding

Silke Baron, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Nearly all octopuses are predatory; bottom-dwelling octopuses eat mainly crustaceans, polychaete worms, and other molluscs such as whelks and clams; open-ocean octopuses eat mainly prawns, fish and other cephalopods. A benthic (bottom-dwelling) octopus typically moves among the rocks and feels through the crevices. The creature may make a jet-propelled pounce on prey and pull it toward the mouth with its arms, the suckers restraining it. Small prey may be completely trapped by the webbed structure. Octopuses usually inject crustaceans like crabs with a paralysing saliva then dismember them with their beaks. Octopuses feed on shelled molluscs either by forcing the valves apart, or by drilling a hole in the shell to inject a nerve toxin

Lifespan

Octopuses have short lifespans, with some species' lifespans completed in only six months. The lifespan of an octopus is limited by its reproductive cycle, with the exception of the larger Pacific striped octopus, which can reproduce numerous times over its two-year lifespan. In the last stage of an octopus's life, an octopus forms lesions, quickly weakens, does not feed and is unable to defend themselves leaving them vunerable. This last stage is called Senescence, it is the the breakdown of cellular function without repair or replacement.

The Senescence timeline for Female and Male Octopus differs:

In Female Octopus, Senescence begins after laying eggs.
In Male Octopus, Senescence begins after mating.