Talk:Hectocotylus

Query
Why does the Hectocotylus break off during copulation? What purpose does it serve?

If anyone knows, please respond on this page.

Sincerely, Gunter Goebel


 * I believe it is to try and stop other boys getting a piece of the action, but don't quote me on that. The bellman 01:02, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

position of the Hectocotylus
This page seems to suggest that all octopuses have thier hectocotylus as their 3rd right arm. Is that right, is it always the same arm for any one type of cephalopod? The bellman 01:02, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

Aristotle
The page currently fails to mention something featured on the Aristotle page - that while its existence was treated as a myth for a number of centuries after his work came out (probably because only males have it, and then only part of the time at that, making the research considerably harder to duplicate), the Hectocotylus was observed somewhat by Aristotle when he examined the sea life off Lesbos. Is there a reason this isn't even mentioned, aside from the obvious fact that the article is basically not far above Stub class (if that)? In case you're interested, the exact portion I'm speaking of is here. Most of this section on his sea life observations seems to have sources, even though the statement on hectocotyl arms itself does not have a Ref footnote (though several sentences around it do)- unfortunately I'm too tired and busy this weekend to dig through them, but it should be all there, one would suppose, for whomever wants to pick up on it to verify it. Just thought I'd point it out so it doesn't languish in Notnoticedland. :P 4.235.69.150 04:49, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

Humans
Why human penis does not detach from male during copulation? 83.167.116.68 (talk) 20:14, 21 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Because then male humans would only be able to mate once, and then (likely) die. You should be glad men are not like argonauts. 173.24.223.159 (talk) 19:29, 11 April 2010 (UTC)

Arms vs Tentacle
There appears to be some interchanging of arms and tentacles. I am not an expert on the subject to identify with certainty which this is meant for use here; however, Wikipedia should use technically accurate terminology, explaining the difference only when needed. Whilst others may confuse the two, a reference should retain rigid accuracy, otherwise paradoxical language will eventually develop, reducing wiki-reliability, i. e. "liberals are taking away our rights." 207.118.173.56 (talk) 23:57, 1 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Thanks for pointing that out. I've substituted muscular hydrostat for the single mention of tentacle. mgiganteus1 (talk) 00:20, 2 July 2010 (UTC)

What goes where?
This article needs a picture showing the organ attached to the animal, it's kinda confusing otherwise. --TiagoTiago (talk) 02:34, 12 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Done! mgiganteus1 (talk) 21:53, 8 August 2010 (UTC)

Question about italics
Could anyone please tell me if "Hectocotyle octopodis" should have its quotation marks removed? I just removed them, for the record. I don't think I've ever seen scientific names (even defunct ones) use quotation marks. The Manual of Style doesn't seem to indicate it, either.--Thylacine24 (talk) 03:31, 21 December 2021 (UTC)