While humans might enjoy holding hands on dates, University of California at Berkeley scientists have found that octopi do the same — with their tentacles.

Campus researchers have provided the first detailed study of octopus mating behavior in the wild that describes surprisingly romantic and aggressive activities by mates and male intruders.

The study, published in the April issue of the journal Marine Biology, shows that some octopi engage in reproductive rituals traditionally thought to be isolated to birds, mammals and crustaceans.

“The rule for octopuses (was) that they (didn’t) have very sophisticated sexual behavior,” said integrative biology professor Roy Caldwell, who co-authored the study. “This was based on literally a handful of studies on a handful of species, most of them in the lab.” …