Some male octopuses tend to get eaten by their sexual partners, but male blue-lined octopuses avoid this fate with help from one of nature’s most potent venoms

In the perilous world of cephalopod romance, male blue-lined octopuses have evolved a shocking strategy to survive mating.

Scientists have found that male blue-lined octopuses inject venom and paralyse females during sex to avoid being killed and cannibalised by their much larger partners.