• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Octopus Squid: A Rule-Breaking Cephalopod With A Taste For Same-Sex Behavior

July 19, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

Cephalopods are always full of surprises that push the boundaries of what we think we know about animal life – and few are more fascinating than the octopus squid (Octopoteuthis deletron), a deep-sea loner with removable limbs and a strong tendency towards same-sex behavior. 

Most squids have a total of 10 appendages, consisting of eight arms and two long tentacles. However, as octopus squid mature, their two feeding tentacles are reabsorbed into their bodies, leaving them with just eight appendages.

Some individual octopus squid have even fewer arms, though. They are one of the only known squids to purposefully lose one of their arms as a way to escape a predator, a bit like how lizards can ditch their tail if it’s been grabbed by a bird. They’re also capable of regenerating the lost limb, a remarkable trait that only a few animal groups possess.

A 2012 study observed 84 individual O. deletron using remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and found that 17 (27 percent) of them had at least one partially missing arm. The researchers even directly witnessed this behavior, called autotomy, when the squids made contact with their ROV and shed their limbs in a panic.   

An octopus squid (Octopoteuthis deletron) observed by MBARI's remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Doc Ricketts in Monterey Canyon at a depth of approximately 540 meters.

An octopus squid (Octopoteuthis deletron) observed by MBARI’s remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Doc Ricketts in Monterey Canyon at a depth of approximately 540 meters (1,772 feet).

Image courtesy of MBARI; © 2019 MBARI

They’re typically seen in the Northeastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of Washington to Baja California. Per the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), the species lives at depths of up to 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) in the twilight (mesopelagic) zone during the daytime. When the sun goes down, they rise to the surface at depths of 500 meters (1,600 feet) to feed.

Like many deep-sea inhabitants, there’s plenty we don’t know about octopus squid, such as their diet. It’s evident, however, that the species is preyed upon by a host of different animals, including whales, sharks, and even seabirds.

Advertisement

To avoid becoming someone else’s dinner, O. deletron can change color, a behavior that’s common in cephalopods that live in shallow waters, but not so typical in deep-dwelling species. 

They achieve this through specialized cells in their skin called chromatophores, which contain sacs of pigment that can be expanded or contracted by the action of surrounding muscle cells, allowing rapid changes in color and pattern. Cephalopods can also shift their appearance using cells called iridophores, which reflect light to produce iridescent colors through structural interference, as well as leucophores, which scatter light and increase their brightness.



Another trick up their sleeve is a light-producing organ that sits at the end of each arm, used to bedazzle prey, illuminate their surroundings, or perhaps woo potential mates.

Advertisement

Speaking of mating, their solitary lives lead them to develop some fairly fascinating sexual behavior. O. deletron is particularly unique because it exhibits same-sex behavior as commonly as opposite-sex sexual behavior, according to a 2011 study.

To reproduce, the squid uses a modified arm to effectively shoot a packet of sperm into the flesh of the partner, where it remains until the female can fertilize its eggs. However, it appears that the octopus squid is indiscriminate with who it attempts to inseminate and will often fire a sperm packet at fellow males. In the lonely depths of the ocean, you can’t miss your shot.

“This is a solitary species that is not very abundant; it lives in deep, dark waters where opportunities for reproduction are few and far between. In response to that challenge, this reproductive strategy ensures that no opportunity for successful mating is lost. It’s kind of like buying a Lotto ticket, except the odds are much better,” Bruce Robison, a co-author of the study and deep-sea ecologist at MBARI, said in a statement.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Bolivian president calls for global debt relief for poor countries
  2. Five Seasons Ventures pulls in €180M fund to tackle human health and climate via FoodTech
  3. Humanity’s Journey To A Metal-Rich Asteroid Launches Today. Here’s How To Watch
  4. Ancient DNA Reveals People Caught Leprosy From Adorable Woodland Critters In Medieval England

Source Link: Octopus Squid: A Rule-Breaking Cephalopod With A Taste For Same-Sex Behavior

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • COVID-19 Can Alter Sperm And Affect Brain Development In Offspring, Causing Anxious Behavior
  • Why Do Spiders’ Legs Curl Up Like That When They’re Dead?
  • “Dead Men’s Fingers” Might Just Be The Strangest Fruit On The Planet
  • The South Atlantic’s Giant Weak Spot In The Earth’s Magnetic Field Is Growing
  • Nearly Half A Century After Being Lost, “Zombie Satellite” LES-1 Began Sending Signals To Earth
  • Extinct In the Wild, An Incredibly Rare Spix’s Macaw Chick Hatches In New Hope For Species
  • HUNTR/X Or Giant Squid? Following Alien Claims, We Asked Scientists What They Would Like Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS To Be
  • Flat-Earthers Proved Wrong Using A Security Camera And A Garage
  • Earth Breaches Its First Climate Tipping Point: We’re Moving Into A World Without Coral Reefs
  • Cheese Caves, A Proposal, And Chance: How Scientists Ended Up Watching Fungi Evolve In Real Time
  • Lab-Grown 3D Embryo Models Make Their Own Blood In Regenerative Medicine Breakthrough
  • Humans’ Hidden “Sixth Sense” To Be Mapped Following $14.2 Million Prize – What Is Interoception?
  • Purple Earth Hypothesis: Our Planet Was Not Blue And Green Over 2.4 Billion Years Ago
  • Hippos Hung Around In Europe 80,000 Years Later Than We Thought
  • Officially Gone: Slender-Billed Curlew, Once-Widespread Migratory Bird, Declared Extinct By IUCN
  • Watch: Rare Footage Captures Freaky Faceless Cusk Eels Lurking On The Deep-Sea Floor
  • Watch This Funky Sea Pig Dancing Its Way Through The Deep Sea, Over 2,300 Meters Below The Surface
  • NASA Lets YouTuber Steve Mould Test His “Weird Chain Theory” In Space
  • The Oldest Stalagmite Ever Dated Was Found In Oklahoma Rocks, Dating Back 289 Million Years
  • 2024’s Great American Eclipse Made Some Birds Behave In Surprising Ways, But Not All Were Fooled
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version