You have read parts I, II and III of this article and already know where to purchase a cuttlefish and how to keep one. Now you want to know the hard core details, you want to delve into the sex life and reproductive biology of a creature that has been described as the closest thing we have to a living alien.
Many cephalopods are short lived and only reproduce once.
For example, most tropical and semi tropical species of octopus live for a year or so, and the females die after their single brood of eggs hatch. The males also have short life spans. It seems a waste for something as intelligent as a cephalopod to have such a short life cycle. Mammals, however, are just one of many groups of animals and we should not expect other groups to have the same reproductive strategies that we do. The cephalopod strategy can best be summed up by the phrase 'live fast and die young', though there are a few exceptions.