Sex at arm’s length? Male octopuses use specialised arm to mate, scientists find

This is the relevant part —

But how this arm detects a mate, or delivers the sperm to the right location, has remained unclear.

Now scientists have found the arm is a sensory organ, similar to a tongue, that can detect the female hormone progesterone. This allows it to seek out and fertilise a mate, even if the male cannot see its sexual partner.

Do you watch a lot of anime? Maybe you crossed some wires…

I also remember reading about this ages ago.

Maybe the scientists discovered a publication from 1975?

The Portuguese octopus leaves his arm in there and ditches the scene.

This is definitely something I learned long ago. Maybe it was speculation back when I believe I “learned” it, but I was pretty sure it was a known fact already

I also already knew this.