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Note: Study co-author Z. Yan Wang will be a Grass Fellow at MBL this summer.

Most octopus species live for one year. But the deaths of octopus mothers after they reproduce have long been a scientific spectacle.

Why exactly octopus mothers engage in a form of self-harm that leads to death just after they reproduce remains something of a mystery. But uses the California two-spot octopus as a model to help explain the physiology of this strange behavior.

Z. Yan Wang, an assistant professor of psychology and biology at the University of Washington and an author of the study, explained that the female of the species goes through three reproductive stages.