In April 2026, a video of a female octopus picking up a rock with its tentacle and hurling it at a male octopus went viral.
But while the footage certainly makes you pause your scrolling, it’s likely to be AI-generated. (You can watch an actual video from the study the post is based on below.)
While the social media post references a real-life study conducted by a team of researchers in Jervis Bay, off the Australian coast, the results are more complex than the video makes it seem.
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Do female octopuses throw rocks?
Octopus tetricus (commonly known as the gloomy octopus) is found in eastern Australia and, like other octopus species, is usually a solitary creature.
However, many octopuses gather at two particular sites at Jervis Bay (included in the study) due to food supply and suitable habitat – with the scientists witnessing unusual interactions.
The researchers filmed the behaviour of the octopuses in these high-density sites and discovered that the animals were ‘throwing’ material such as shells and silt.
But while the social media video claims that females were throwing objects at males who were getting too close, the research paper (published in PLOS ONE in 2022) suggests something slightly different.
“There’s a behaviour that some octopuses do that’s a kind of ‘jet-propelled throw’ – that’s what we call it, anyway,” says Peter Godfrey-Smith, the lead author of the paper.
“The octopus gathers shells, silt and/or seaweed in its arms and uses its jet propulsion device to project the payload for some distance (often several body lengths). It’s not a ‘spit’ because the material is held in the arms but not a normal throw – usually – because the power comes from the jet propulsion device (the ‘siphon’), not from the arms themselves.”
And while the researchers did observe octopuses ‘throwing’ material, the examples where it hit another octopus was in the minority, in only 33 per cent of cases.
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In one observation lasting one hour, a single female octopus threw material 17 times, with nine of these hitting another octopus.
Of the nine throws, eight were directed at a nearby female and only one hit was on a male.
In another observation, a single female threw material 10 times, with this hitting a male (who attempted to mate with her) in an adjacent den five times.
Material was also thrown at the camera that recorded these observations.
“Most of these ‘throws’ do not hit another octopus. Most of them seem to be just den clean-up,” Godfrey-Smith explains.
“We did get one video of an octopus who seemed to apply some force with its arms,” he explains.
“A shell might have been thrown a short distance in a kind of frisbee motion, and it did hit another. But that was an unusual case – usually the force comes from the siphon.”
Overall, the team suggests that some of the recorded throws could be targeted at other octopuses, indicating that these throws help manage social interaction – including sexual interactions.
However, they stress that they saw no evidence of retaliation, and some strong throws were directed into open water instead of a target.
They warn that demonstrating intention in non-human animals is difficult, and explain that the hits may have occurred while the octopuses were cleaning their dens, with another octopus happening to get in the way.
So, while octopuses are a rare example of non-human animals that can throw, we can’t quite conclude whether the females are aiming at overly keen males.
Read the full paper here: In the line of fire: Debris throwing by wild octopuses
Top image: a gloomy octopus near Sydney, Australia. Credit: S.Rohrlach/Getty Images
