[6] They swim by moving their fins, pulsing their webbed arms, pushing water through their funnel for jet propulsion, or all three at once.

These eggs have a hard, protective outer shell (unlike the eggs of incirrate octopus) and are not brooded or protected by the mother, the hatched young undergo direct development (lacking the paralarvae stage of incirrate octopus) and are likely benthic.

[14] O. californiana is morphologically very similar to Opisthoteuthis albatrossi, and they may be the same species, but the two have never been critically compared (due to the latter being historically placed in the genus Stauroteuthis).

From observations of other Opisthoteuthis species, the extensive arm webbing is possibly used to trap small crustaceans, with the cirri and suckers moving small prey items towards the mouth (a fairly low-energy feeding strategy compared to shallow-water octopus).

specimens (including a fertile octopus) that resemble O. californiana (in media these were given the informal name Opisthoteuthis 'adorabilis').