PERSONALITIES OF OCTOPUSES (OCTOPUS-RUBESCENS)

Large individual differences are commonly found in the behavior of oct opuses, even in standardized situations. Octopus rubescens (n = 44) we re tested in 3 situations (alerting, threat, and feeding) to quantify this variation. A factor analysis of resulting behaviors isolated 3 or thogonal dimensions of their variability. Activity, Reactivity, and Av oidance, which accounted for 45% of the variance. The similarity of th ese factors to dimensions of personality in humans and individual diff erences in animals suggests there may be commonalities in such variati on across phyla.