In recent years, my father has been studying oc-
topus behavior, and not long ago, he took me to meet
his then current cohort of research animals. Each
tank was labeled with an ID number, date of birth
and name: Charlie, PiPer, GeorGe, miGhTy Joe
younG, Franklin, muh-Shell, Vader, Boo and
Swimmy. It wasn’t feeding time, so most of the oc-
topuses were tucked away in shells or flowerpots.
But Mighty Joe Young, a 10-month-old female, was
bouncing around her tank. We gave her an orange
ping-pong ball to play with, and watched as she
stretched out one of her eight arms and touched the
intruding object, cautiously exploring its surface with
her suckers, then backed away for a moment before
coming at the ball again from another angle. Then
again. My dad grabbed a fiddler crab from the counter
behind him, and dropped it into the tank. Mighty Joe
sprung into action, and the crab was gone in seconds.
My dad has always been a bit wary of anthropo-
morphizing animals. “We infer all these things in the
animal,” he says, “and that’s a dangerous thing to do
in animal behavior research.” But, watching Mighty
Joe Young, even he slipped up, wondering aloud,
“What are you thinking, huh?”
The quesTion of ocTopus inTelligence is cen-
tral to debates surrounding aquaculture. A January
paper by New York University professor Jennifer
Jacquet argued that their smarts render farming an
ethical cul-de-sac. One issue, she says, is that octo-
puses are carnivorous—meaning that farming would
likely require “exploit[ing] wild animals to feed the
farmed animals.” The other problem, she argues, is
that they are sentient beings. “Even the best inten-
tioned octopus farming would not satisfy the neces-
sary conditions to make an octopus’ life meaningful,”
says Jacquet. Unfortunately, she adds, “I think [this]
will be a case where economic interest will win over
moral imperative.” In a recent open letter Jacquet co-
authored, more than 100 academics signed on to the
notion that octopus farming is unethical. “A life in
solitary confinement for a curious mind is ethically
wrong,” says Jacquet.
My dad, for one, gave up eating octopuses shortly
after he began studying them—they’re too smart, he
says. Rosas is less conflicted. He’s always loved to eat
pulpo, and remembers his mom cooking it for him as
a kid. Even after almost two decades of work with
the animals, he’s never really found himself emotion-
ally attached. The octopuses in his lab have numbers,
not names. It’s not that Rosas denies their intelli-
gence, but rather questions whether they are really
that much smarter than the multitude of other ani-
mals we already eat for food. Our answer will shape
the future of Rosas’s farming gamble: Will octopuses
remain acceptable as food, like other intelligent crea-
tures such as pigs? Or will they be considered off-
limits, like primates?
Rosas believes global demand for octopus will only
continue to soar, and that it’s just a matter of years be-
fore a farm for the animals will be ready to help meet
that growth—hopefully in Mexico. But he’s faced de-
lays, primarily because of an inability to secure ad-
ditional real estate for his venture. At one point, a
former graduate student of Rosas’ approached him
about building a farm in Hunucmá, about 15 miles
inland. They initially made progress— finding land,
clearing it, and buying six of the 12 tanks they would
need. Then one investor lost his job, and the others
grew weary. This year they installed a few tanks to
raise tilapia; the octopus ambitions are still on hold.
Meanwhile, teams elsewhere in the world are
challenging Rosas to be the first to market. Groups
in Spain and Japan say they’ve developed new tank
setups and rearing techniques that have boosted sur-
vival rates to around 50%—and that’s with the trick-
ier paralarval octopuses. These developments don’t
worry Rosas, who sees collaboration rather than
competition as the path forward. Last November, he
invited scientists from around the globe to Sisal to
discuss octopus aquaculture. He’s also working with
colleagues in Europe and South America to develop
a more cost-effective way to feed the octopuses than
his squid-paste-filled shells.
Given his past experiences, Rosas tempers his ex-
pectations. But he’s still eager to find funders. He
rarely says no to a tour: this year he says he’s hosted
groups from Spain and Italy, and the United Nations
Development Programme. Guests are often treated
an octopus meal prepared by the cooperative. “We
eat them,” Rosas says. “We make a feast.” Willoctopusesremainacceptableas food, likeotherintelligentcreaturessuch as pigs?