Observations on females of Todarodes sagittatus (Lamarck, 1798) (Oegopsida: Ommastrephidae) with spermatangia in bizarre positions

Cephalopod International Advisory Council Conference (CIAC 2018) : Cephalopod Research Across Scales: From Molecules to Ecosystems, 12-16 November 2018, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA.-- 1 pageMales of the majority of flying squid speciestransfer their sperm packets (spermatophores) to the buccal area of thefemales. Once the spermatophore reaction is triggered, the spermatophore ejectsthe spermatangia, which is a sperm reservoir that firmly attaches to the femaletissues. Spermatozoa of flying squids abandon the spermatangia and swim overthe female squid in a targeted way to the seminal receptacles (SRs) of thebuccal membrane of the female, where they remain until spawning. In theEuropean flying squid, Todarodes sagittatus(Lamarck, 1798), spermatangia are usually attached to the femalebuccal mass. Two females of T. sagittatuswith spermatangia attached in the mantle were sampled from the fishing trawlerfleet of two Catalonian ports (NW Mediterranean Sea). Specimen 1 (Barcelona, 29-VII-2014,398 mm mantle length) had 30 spermatangia in the second third of the ventralsurface of the mantle, while specimen 2 (Vilanova i la Geltrú, 10-XII-2014, 267mm mantle length) had 22 spermatangia in the first third of the dorsal surfaceof the mantle. No spermatangia was found in the oral region of both females. Oneof the spermatangia of the specimen 1 was molecularly identified as T. sagittatus. No mature male was fishedthe same day by the trawlers, excluding abnormal copulation inside the fishingnet as a stress reaction. Thus, these two bizarre mating events represent anormal component of the mating behavior of T.sagittatusin the wild. Until now it is not known the distance that flyingsquid sperm is able to migrate from the spermatangia to the SRs of the femaleand if spermatozoa deployed in the mantle are able to migrate this importantdistance from the mantle to the SRs. Since females are significantly biggerthan males and cannibalistic behavior is frequent among squids, I hypothesizethat spermatangia position could be the result of quick unspecific mating eventsperformed by males in order to reduce the risk of cannibalismPeer Reviewe