By: Jason Shen

Scientists at the University of Sydney discovered an odd conduct while studying the animals in Jervis Bay, Australia. Octopuses are usually solitary creatures, but they found that there were many dusty octopuses.

They placed cameras to watch their behavior. The scientists captured around 20 hours of footage between 2015 and 2016 showing the mollusks tossing silt, algae, and even shells. In some cases they were cleaning their dens, but other times it appears that they are trying to hit other octopuses.

The target octopus usually raises an arm or ducks to avoid being hit. Female octopuses mostly target males. Darker-colored octopus toss things harder than their paler counterparts.