Reproductive Behavior of the Japanese Spineless Cuttlefish Sepiella japonica

Abstract

The reproductive behavior of the Japanese spineless cuttlefish Sepiella japonica was observed in a tank. The males competed for females before egg-laying and then formed pairs with females. The male then initiated mating by pouncing on the female head, and maintained the male superior head-to-head position during the mating. Before ejaculation, the male moved his right (non-hectocotylized) arm IV under the ventral portion of the female buccal membrane, resulting in the dropping of parts of spermatangia placed there during previous matings. After the sperm removal behavior, the male held spermatophores ejected through his funnel with the base of hectocotylized left arm IV and transferred them to the female buccal area. The spermatophore transfer occurred only once during each mating. The female laid an egg capsule at average intervals of 1.5 min and produced from 36 to more than 408 egg capsules in succession during a single egg-laying bout. Our results also suggested one female produced nearly 200 fertilized eggs without additional mating, implying that the female have potential capacity to store and use active sperm properly. The male continued to guard the spawning female after mating (range=41.8-430.1 min), and repeated matings occurred at an average interval of 70.8 min during the mate guarding. Although the time spent on the sperm removal in S. japonica was shorter than in other sperm-removing cuttlefishes, the shorter sperm removal duration may be compensated by the post-copulatory mate guarding and repeated matings in this species.