Barnes, Robert D. Invertebrate Zoology. W.B. Saunders Co. 1968. Mather, Jennifer A, and Roland C. Anderson. But giant Pacific octopuses show what scientists can only call intelligence. In laboratory tests, they solve mazes quickly, and unscrew jars to get at food inside.
Octopuses mate when they are two years old, and the male dies soon afterward.
The female lays her eggs in sticky strings that she hangs from the roof of her den. She guards them until they hatch as long as six or seven months. During this time she never eats or leaves the den. She dies after the eggs hatch into perfect miniature octopuses. Each one is smaller than your fingernail, but in just two years it may grow into another gentle giant.