[cupofpython]

so then we are free to allow any convention to take hold.

so why not use the multiple different potential pluralities to differentiate between same species, different species, and unknown species? I think the following would be the most intuitive!

Octopuses seems most intuitive and already assumes unknown species (ie used by children who dont even know what a species is)

Octopi sounds similar to a singular entity (no trailing s), so a group from a single species

Octopodes then could explicitly refer to multiple species together, as it changes the spelling a bit and also adds an s

Of course, conventions are not decided upon by a single persons thought process in a random internet forum - so I'm not sure why I wrote this out

[smcl]

I feel like there has to be one of those "galaxy brain" progression memes for Octopuses -> Octopi -> Octopodes

[JohnKacz]

Love it. This is now my convention. So it's at least TWO people in a random internet forum!