Biologists have rediscovered a species of octopus, that resemble humans in some of their social and mating habits, Fox News Latino reports.
Octopuses have for long fascinated scientists with their changing shapes, intelligence and eyes.
According to Fox News Latino, Rich Ross, a senior biologist at the California Academy of Sciences, who studied the species, said, "They're aliens alive on our planet and it feels like they have plans."
The species of octopus under study mate beak-to-beak which has been termed 'romantic' by Alvaro Roura, an octopus expert at La Trobe University in Australia, who wasn't part of the study. The couples of this species live together to mate for a few days in the same place. Also, the female of this species lives longer than females other species and produces eggs constantly.
These octopuses also clean out food waste from their dens and twirl their arms.
"It's the most amazing octopus that I've ever gotten to work with," Ross said, as reported by Fox News Latino.
The octopus, normally a dull chocolate brown, suddenly sports stripes and spots when it gets excited or upset, said Roy Caldwell of the University of California, Berkeley. He is the lead author of a paper on the octopus with Ross and others published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One.
The species is called the Larger Pacific Striped Octopus. A researcher named Arcadio discovered this species almost 40 years ago off the coast of Panama. However, he gave up on the species after other scientists wouldn't believe it was a separate species or that it showed distinctive behavior.
However, the octopus was rediscovered by Caldwell in 2011 after he got an email from a high school student about his pet octopus, Charlie. The researchers included Rodaniche as a co-author after he declined to let them name the octopus species after him.
