Plans to farm octopus commercially are advancing in several countries, but animal welfare scientists have raised serious concerns given that octopuses are among the most cognitively complex invertebrates on Earth.
Octopuses kept in proximity to conspecifics in farm conditions engage in stress-related aggression and cannibalism. Their complex cognitive abilities mean that barren environments cause significant frustration and stereotypic behaviours. Octopuses have well-documented pain responses and show learning from aversive experiences. Keeping a highly intelligent, solitary, spatially complex predator in intensive farming conditions creates welfare problems with no obvious solution. Many welfare scientists argue that octopus farming is inherently incompatible with meeting the species welfare needs.