Semelparity is close to a rule among octopuses: one clutch, a brooding fast, then death. Octopus chierchiae is a documented exception. In laboratory culture, females have produced multiple clutches in succession, brooding one batch while continuing to eat and later laying again, with total lifespans well past a single reproductive event.
The species departs from other octopus norms too. Reports from work by Roy Caldwell, Richard Ross, Christine Huffard and Arcadio Rodaniche describe individuals tolerating close proximity to conspecifics rather than the usual solitary aggression, and mating in a beak-to-beak posture rather than the male reaching across at arm's length.
Care is needed with how far these observations extend. Most of the detail comes from captive animals, and the wild behaviour of the species remains thinly documented; captivity can alter both social tolerance and reproductive scheduling. A related caution applies to a widely repeated claim of communal dens, which is not established. What is solid is that at least one octopus lineage escapes the single-clutch pattern.