Everyone Has an Octopus Opinion

The underwater cameras got it all: The octopuses emerged from a cluttered bed of empty shells, arms unfurling like ribbons. Then, suddenly, a cloud of debris came spewing out from underneath their arms. Usually it was silt, which billowed through the water like smoke. Sometimes it was shells. Sometimes it hit another octopus.

The action unfolded dozens of times a day in the waters off the coast of Australia in 2015 and 2016. The participants were gloomy octopuses, so named likely because of their harrowed-looking eyes. A casual observer might assume that these funky-looking octopuses were duking it out, or engaging in play fighting, using silt instead of snowballs. After all, we humans animals, especially when they engage in behaviors