A male blue-lined octopus mounts a female during mating and injects venom into her body WEN-SUNG CHUNG
During mating, some male octopuses inject females with their potent venom to paralyse them – and avoid being eaten by their mates.
Typically, animals use venom to kill prey or defend themselves from predators. Some species of pufferfish, for example, possess one of nature’s most potent venoms, tetrodotoxin, as a defence mechanism. Several blue-ringed octopus species use tetrodotoxin as a powerful weapon to quickly immobilise and kill their prey.
Now, in a…
Article amended on 19 March 2025
We corrected a statement about how pufferfish acquire tetrodotoxin
