Spawning Behavior and Selection of Spawning Substrate.

Abstract

In order to elucidate the selection of spawning substrate by female cuttlefish Sepia esculenta, their behavior and trigger stimulus during a spawning sequence were examined in indoor tanks. Fe male approaches substrate, spurts water towards substrate, takes sediment in arms, covers eggs with sediment, spurts water towards substrate again, and undergoes egg deposition on substrate to complete one spawning. Females which finished copulation were visually attracted to more visible substrate. The height of a substrate was not an important factor for the attraction. Substrates which swung by the spurting water were not accepted by females. Females exhibited taking sediment even though there was no sediment on the tank bottom. It was concluded that female cuttlefish prefer long, fine, and immobile materials as spawning substrates.

Can an aggregation-fishery be responsible for recruitment overfishing? A case study on cuttlefish stock associated with moored fish aggregation devices (FADs)

“…Cuttlefish are ready to spawn immediately after mating (Watanuki and Kawamura, 1999). Female cuttlefishes (S. esculenta) were observed approaching the spawning substrate (branches of plants or nets of basket traps; Fujita et al, 1997), for placing eggs, one at a time, about every 5 min during an egg-laying session and producing 23-65 egg capsules during a single egg-laying period (Watanuki et al, 2000). Throughout this process, a male accompanied the female (Soichi, 1983).…”

Reproductive Biology of the Golden Cuttlefish Sepia esculenta (Cephalopoda, Sepiida)

“…Despite its wide distribution and high commercial value, the reproductive biology of S. esculenta is poorly understood, and our knowledge currently consists only of the number of spermatophores [34]; the fecundity of the females (Yasuda [35] reported from the coast of Ise and Mikawa Bay and the seas near Atsumi; Tomiyama [36] reported from the Yamaguchi Prefecture coastal waters; Arima et al [37] reported from the Fukuoka Prefecture coastal waters; and Zhang et al [38] reported from the Qingdao coastal waters); the ripe egg diameter (reported in the Qingdao coastal waters by Zhang et al [38]); the oogenesis (data obtained from a cultured population by Yin et al [29]); and the seminal receptacle's histological structure (reported in the Qingdao coastal waters by Wang et al [39]). Other studies related to the reproductive biology of the species have focused on reproductive behaviour [40][41][42][43]. This study provided data on the morphology of male and female reproductive systems; the number of spermatophores; the spermatophore length and morphology; the ontogenetic changes in spermatophores and spermatophore production; the fecundity of females; the oocyte-phase distribution; the proportion of resorbing oocytes; the histological structure of the ovary; the spermatangia length/structure; and the implantation type of S. esculenta in Japanese waters.…”

Cuttlefish spawning and visually mediated entry into basket traps

“…However, this method has not been tried because of the various difficulties involved in such a method. In the laboratory, the spawning behavior of cuttlefish has been reported, 6–8 but not the behavior of cuttlefish via‐á‐vis fishing gear.…”