In other words, the eighth leg is a penis. They have seven tentacles and a specialized limb for transferring sperm. There’s nothing “octo” about the male octopus.
I’ve lived my whole life believing an octagon has eight sides, my 83-year-old nanna is an octogenarian, and an octopus has eight goddamn legs-it’s basic linguistics.īut now, at the auspicious age of 33, I have to accept that I’ve been suckered. The very name-derived from the Greek word októpus, meaning “eight foot”-has led us down the garden path. It’s a little known fact that a male octopus’s eighth leg is actually its penis. This article is featured in Gossamer Volume Seven: Touch.
