maculosa consists mostly of lobsters, crabs, shrimp, and shellfish, as well as the occasional small fish. H. maculosa makes use of its venom for feeding purposes. It pins down and injects it through its beak. This totally paralyzes its prey, often killing it outright. This readies it for feeding. Another tactic it uses to hunt is releasing its venom as a mist into a location where its prey is commonly found. Their prey swim into the venom and become paralyzed, allowing for an attack. Life span and reproduction H. maculosa has a very short life span with a large importance placed on reproduction. The average life span of a southern blue ringed octopus is around seven months. The octopus reaches sexual maturity at around four months old, at which time it focuses its last few months of life towards copulation and breeding. Both genders of this species are promiscuous, as they only have a limited set of gametes. The mating ritual of H. maculosa usually begins with the female initiating reproduction by changing color and posture. The male then mounts the female, inserts the hectocotylus under the mantle of the female, and releases the sperm into the female’s oviduct. For this type of octopus, there is approximately a two-month window in which a female acquires and stores sperm from multiple males. She then carries the eggs with her, as opposed to depositing them somewhere stationary. During this time period, the mother rarely moves unless disturbed. When she is forced to move, she uses only two arms for locomotion. The female also does not eat during this time period. Because of this, the mother dies shortly after the eggs have hatched. It is highly unlikely that the male or female would live beyond one year. This unusual octopus maternal care system seems to be an advanced evolutionary development of the species. While this may seem strange, females only reproduce once in their lifetime, so it is vital to them that their egg clutch survives. Once hatched, the H. maculosa grow very rapidly. The southern blue-ringed octopus also differs from other marine invertebrates in that there is no planktonic stage. The young begin hunting around one month of age- they are said to be venomous from birth, while their blue rings don’t appear until six weeks after hatching. It was found in a study by Morse and Zenger that as size of