Female Squids Eat Sperms to Boost Fertilization

Researchers have now uncovered a strange sexual behavior of the southern bottletail squid. The females of this species eat some of the male's ejaculations before having sex. Researchers say that this behavior might help the smaller females get ready to have sex.

The study, by researchers from Monash University along with their colleagues from Melbourne University and Museum Victoria, found that smaller females of the squid species eat the ejaculation so that they can provide nutrients to their unfertilized eggs.

Researchers also found that males tended to have sex with larger females, which might be a strategy to reduce ejaculate consumption.

"These squid live for just a year and have only a single breeding season before they die, so it's not surprising that the males can be highly strategic when evaluating potential mates," said Benjamin Wegener, lead author of the study from Monash University. "The findings suggest that males who copulate with smaller females could pay a higher price for their ejaculate expenditure."

Mating among the squids occurs from an early stage, where the females start storing the sperms from a male in a pouch located just beneath the mouth. The eggs begin to fertilize in these pouches.

"A male's sperm packages, called spermatophores, take time to produce and he must pass several to the female if he hopes to fertilise her eggs. If she is using the nutrients received from ejaculate consumption to develop her unfertilised eggs, he may even be helping the next male that mates with her," Wegener said in a news release.

The current research is published in the journal Biology Letters.