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Female Choice Leads to a Switch in Oval Squid Male Mating Tactics
- Source :
- The Biological Bulletin. 233:219-226
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- University of Chicago Press, 2017.
-
Abstract
- Oval squids are polyandrous, with one female mating with multiple males during the spawning season. There are two alternative male mating tactics used by Sepioteuthis lessoniana. Larger males place spermatophores at the opening of the oviduct using a male-parallel mating posture, whereas smaller males attach spermatophores around the female buccal membrane using a male-upturned mating posture. If the route of egg transportation is taken into consideration, male-parallel mating would be expected to result in higher fertilization success than male-upturned mating. Although these male mating tactics are largely dependent on the body size of the male relative to that of the female, it is unclear how female choice affects the male's mating tactics and his mating success. Squids are highly visual animals, and they communicate through dynamic body patterning. In the present study, we observed that smaller male squids in captivity would attempt to mate with a larger female using the male-parallel tactic repeatedly, but they failed to be successful most of the time because of a rejection signal by the female. In contrast, when the males switched to the male-upturned tactic, the mating success rate was increased significantly, with much less female rejection signal. This finding suggests that female squids signal their mating receptivity visually and that male squids alter their mating tactics accordingly. This is the evidence to support the hypothesis that the switch in male mating tactics depends on female choice in oval squids and that this is transmitted via visual communication.
- Subjects :
- Male
0301 basic medicine
Decapodiformes
Receptivity
Zoology
Captivity
Biology
Body size
biology.organism_classification
Animal Communication
Sepioteuthis
Sexual Behavior, Animal
03 medical and health sciences
030104 developmental biology
Mate choice
Spermatophore
behavior and behavior mechanisms
Animals
Female
Animal communication
Mating
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
reproductive and urinary physiology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 19398697 and 00063185
- Volume :
- 233
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The Biological Bulletin
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....e1b6ec55b009187e7afbb50a8155a7e2