Friday Squid Blogging: Bizarre Squid Reproductive Habits

Lots of them:

Hoving investigated the reproductive techniques of no fewer than ten different squids and related cuttlefish—from the twelve-metre long giant squid to a mini-squid of no more than twenty-five millimetres in length. Along the way he made a number of remarkable discoveries. Hoving: “Reproduction is no fun if you’re a squid. With one species, the Taningia danae, I discovered that the males give the females cuts of at least 5 centimetres deep in their necks with their beaks or hooks—they don’t have suction pads. They then insert their packets of sperm, also called spermatophores, into the cuts.”

Posted on January 9, 2009 at 4:06 PM6 Comments

Comments

Jeff Day January 9, 2009 4:54 PM

I find his assertion that cutting your mate isn’t fun insulting and judgmental. Who’s he to judge what squid do in their free time?

Cannonball Jones January 10, 2009 3:10 AM

Hmm, if that’s what they get up to when no-one’s looking I might have to rethink getting one tattooed on my back. It’d be a nightmare trying to explain the cuts to the lifeguards at the pool…

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