Mating Blue-Ringed Octopuses

Beautiful, but deadly, the bite of these marble-sized octopus from the reefs of Indonesia can cause death in a human within minutes. Their reproductive behavior is being studied in Roy Caldwell's laboratory in the Department of Integrative Biology. Here a male (beige) mounts a larger female (yellow) as she spreads her web and displays her iridescent blue rings. The male will use his specialized third right arm to insert a packet of sperm in to the female's mantle cavity.

Photo submitted by Roy Caldwell.