How a citizen scientist uncovered a strange kind of octopus that defied everything the experts thought they knew about these enigmatic creatures

In the late 1970s, Panamanian diver and artist Arcadio Rodaniche observed a mysterious colony of striped octopuses off the coast of Panama. Unlike any octopus previously described, they lived unusually close to their neighbors, shared dens, mated beak-to-beak, laid multiple clutches of eggs without dying, and exhibited unique hunting strategies, all of which went against accepted ideas about how octopuses should behave. Octopus X tells the story of the larger Pacific striped octopus and the man whose discovery was rejected by science for decades. Even now, this octopus still lacks a formal scientific name.

Kenna Hughes-Castleberry describes how Rodaniche’s peculiar find has opened new avenues of research and upended long-held assumptions. We meet the scientists whose experiments with psychedelics are revealing fresh insights into the sociability of octopuses and the potential to rewire brain patterns across species. The unique characteristics of the larger Pacific striped octopus have expanded our understanding of how octopuses think and perceive their own bodies and how they may feel pain—something once thought impossible in invertebrate animals. These findings raise questions about the controversial practices of farming octopuses for food, displaying them in aquariums, and keeping them as pets.

Octopus X is an underdog story about the power of citizen science to challenge who gets to decide what becomes accepted scientific fact, shedding light on how discoveries are credited or dismissed and how a scientifically nameless species can reveal a previously hidden world of octopuses.