SAME-SEX TENDENCY, OR RATHER, TENTACLES
by Tim Friend
USA TODAY

Scientists aboard the submarine Alvin have stumbled across two 
male octopuses [sic] of different species engaged in sex on the 
ocean floor at a depth of 12,000 feet.

Alvin was just completing a dive at a deep Pacific Ocean vent 
about 1,000 miles west of Guatemala when the crew spotted this 
"close encounter of the deep," an event described in today's 
_Nature>.

No one has reported seeing octopuses engaged in mating behavior 
in the deep ocean before.

"This is very curious, expecially in light of the U.S. sexual 
survey," says the report's co-author Janet Voight, Field Museum 
of Natural History, Chicago.

A male octopus' sexual apparatus is like a tentacle, which it 
inserts into the mantle cavity, the main opening in the body, 
both male and female.

Richard Lutz, Rutgers University, was aboard Alvin and taped 
the encounter for 16 minutes.

The aggressive octopus, which was nearly transparent, was only 
15 inches long and represents an unknown species.  The other 
was more than 7 feet long.

Lutz say the little guy began breathing "vigoroulsy" in the 
last six minutes of the observation.

The encounter raises questions for science, says Voight.  It's 
known that females bear eggs only once, so they are very choosy 
about mates.  It's also known that in the vast deep ocean 
evnironment, octopuses may not pass each other very often.

Voight says it's possible that males are "less cautious in 
checking out potential mates."