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An analysis (phân tích) of footage (cảnh quay) of octopuses (bạch tuộc) off the coast of Australia “throwing”
shells and silt suggests that they intentionally (cố tình, có chủ ý) target – and often hit – other octopuses. In most cases, it is females that do the throwing, often at males that are harassing (làm phiền, quấy rầy, quấy rối) them.

In 2015, Peter Godfrey-Smith at the University of Sydney and his colleagues filmed several common Sydney octopuses (Octopus tetricus) interacting at a site in Jervis Bay dubbed “Octopolis”. It is one of the few places in the otherwise sandy sea bottom where octopuses can make dens, so there are an unusual number of the animals in a small area.

The cameras captured fights, matings and an extraordinary (kỳ lạ) behaviour that the team calls throwing. “It’s hard to know how best to describe it,” says Godfrey-Smith.

The octopuses hold silt (bùn, phù sa), algae (tảo) or objects such as shells under their bodies in their tentacles (xúc tu), then angle their siphons and shoot a jet of water at the projectiles, propelling them up to several body lengths.

This throwing behaviour was known to be used for discarding the remains of meals or for excavating dens, but the videos also revealed many instances where octopuses hit other individuals with thrown objects.

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