Temporal dynamics of mating and paternity in the squid Loligo pealeii

Abstract

We investigated short-term changes in relative paternity among a female's offspring in the long-finned squid Loligo pealeii. We conducted mating trials in the laboratory in which a single female mated with 2 males over the course of a few hours while laying successive egg capsules. Through microsatellite typing, we determined the males' relative paternities for the first and second egg capsules laid during each of 10 mating trials. Relative paternity of the first egg capsule was typically in favor of the first male to mate in the trial, although this was the only male to mate before the the first egg capsule was laid. When the female mated with an additional male before the second egg capsule was laid (all 10 trials), the first male to mate typically continued to achieve high relative paternity in the second capsule when the interval between first mating and second egg laying was relatively brief (i.e. 40 min or less). Dramatic differences in relative paternity were observed in the second capsule when the interval between the first mating and the laying of the second egg capsule was longer than 140 min. The present study argues against routine second and later-male sperm precedence in loliginid squids, pointing to other influences on paternity, such as the interval between insemination and egg laying.

Nocturnal mating behaviour and dynamic male investment of copulation time in the southern blue-ringed octopus, Hapalochlaena maculosa (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae)

“…Specifically, these results support findings by Cigliano (1995) and Wada et al (2010) in that some male cephalopods appear to strategically regulate their copulation time based on the mating history of the female, presumably to maximise their reproductive output by balancing both their chance of paternity and their ability to successfully copulate with other females. Sperm competition appears prevalent among cephalopod mating systems (Cigliano, 1995;Hanlon et al, 1999;Naud et al, 2004;Shaw & Sauer, 2004;Wada et al, 2005b;Wada et al, 2006;Buresch et al, 2009;Wada et al, 2010;Iwata et al, 2011;Sato et al, 2013). Future studies using molecular markers might identify correlations between paternity and behavioural patterns including copulation duration and chronology.…”

Spawning behavior dynamics at communal egg beds in the squid Doryteuthis (Loligo) pealeii

“…Similarly, the giant Australian cuttlefish Sepia apama is also known to aggregate to spawn (Hall and Hanlon, 2002). Various aspects of reproductive behavior in D. pealeii have been reported by Drew (1911), Arnold (1962), Arnold and Williams-Arnold (1977), Griswold and Prezioso (1981), Hanlon (1996Hanlon ( , 1998, Hanlon et al (1997Hanlon et al ( , 1999, , King et al (2003), and Buresch et al (2003Buresch et al ( , 2009. D. pealeii lays multiple gelatinous egg capsules (egg fingers), each containing 50-400 individual eggs (on average 134; Hanlon et al, 1999;, and attaches these capsules to the substrate at communal sites, often involving dozens of squids (see Griswold and Prezioso, 1981).…”

“…Indirect female choice is likely because several sources of sperm can be used for fertilizing eggs (Buresch et al, 2001(Buresch et al, , 2009Drew, 1911). Yet we were looking for behavioral evidence that the females were actually using stored sperm in the field.…”

“…In captivity, females can store viable sperm for at least 40 days, although it appears that stores are limited since many eggs laid after three weeks were not fertilized . Mechanisms of sperm precedence are not well understood despite controlled behavioral/paternity experiments (Buresch et al, 2001(Buresch et al, , 2009); simple last-male precedence is apparently not occurring. Similar results have been found by Iwata et al (2005) in L. bleekeri.…”

Quantitative Analysis of Dynamic Body Patterning Reveals the Grammar of Visual Signals during the Reproductive Behavior of the Oval Squid Sepioteuthis lessoniana

“…In addition, it has been observed that male squids showed agonistic behavior and fight for the possession of the female during reproductive interactions (Moynihan and Rodaniche, 1982;Jantzen and Havenhand, 2003b). Cephalopods are highly visual animals and they communicate through dynamic body patterning, thus it is likely that visual communication between males and females during courtship behaviors, as well as between different males during agonistic behavior, may determine their mating strategies (Hanlon et al, , 2002(Hanlon et al, , 2005Jantzen and Havenhand, 2003a,b;Naud et al, 2004Naud et al, , 2016Iwata et al, 2005;Wada et al, 2005;Huffard et al, 2008;Buresch et al, 2009;Scheel et al, 2016).…”