Wanna Cuttle? Cuttlefish Mating and the Allure of the Sneaker-male

In this episode, Clara and Emily take a dive into the world of cuttlefish... but Clara spends the first five minutes thinking we're talking about pufferfish. Learn why these marine invertebrates are known as the chameleons of the sea and get a glimpse at their strange mating rituals in this week's episode!Adamo, S. A., & Hanlon, R. T. (1996). Do cuttlefish (Cephalopoda) signal their intentions to conspecifics during agonistic encounters?. Animal Behaviour, 52(1), 73-81.Allen, J. J., Akkaynak, D., Schnell, A. K., & Hanlon, R. T. (2017). Dramatic fighting by male cuttlefish for a female mate. The American Naturalist, 190(1), 144-151.Guo, H., Zhang, D., Wang, L., Li, W., He, P., Näslund, J., & Zhang, X. (2021). Sperm competition in golden cuttlefish Sepia esculenta: The impact of mating order and male size. Aquaculture, 530, 735929.Hall, .K., Hanlon, .R. Principal features of the mating system of a large spawning aggregation of the giant Australian cuttlefish Sepia apama (Mollusca: Cephalopoda). Marine Biology 140, 533–545 (2002). Hanlon, R. T., Ament, S. A., & Gabr, H. (1999). Behavioral aspects of sperm competition in cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis (Sepioidea: Cephalopoda). Marine Biology, 134, 719-728.Hanlon, R., Naud, MJ., Shaw, P. et al. Transient sexual mimicry leads to fertilization. Nature 433, 212 (2005). Hanlon, R. (2007). Cephalopod dynamic camouflage. Current biology, 17(11), R400-R404.Liu, L., Zhang, Y., Hu, X., Lü, Z., Liu, B., Jiang, L. H., & Gong, L. (2019). Multiple paternity assessed in the cuttlefish Sepiella japonica (Mollusca, Cephalopoda) using microsatellite markers. ZooKeys, 880, 33.Mather J. A., & Dickel L., (2017). Cephalopod complex cognition, Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, Vol 16, Pages 131-137, ISSN 2352-1546, Maradonna, F., Pessina, A., Ashouri, G., Notti, E., Chemello, G., Russo, G., ... & Carnevali, O. (2024). First Feeding of Cuttlefish Hatchlings: Pioneering Attempts in Captive Breeding. Animals, 14(13), 1993.Naud M, Hanlon RT, Hall KC, Shaw PW, Havenhand JN (2004) Behavioural and genetic assessment of reproductive success in a spawning aggregation of the Australian giant cuttlefish, Sepia apama. Anim Behav 67:1043–1050Norman, M. D., Finn, J., & Tregenza, T. (1999). Female impersonation as an alternative reproductive strategy in giant cuttlefish. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 266(1426), 1347-1349.Schnell, A. K., Smith, C. L., Hanlon, R. T., & Harcourt, R. T. (2015). Female receptivity, mating history, and familiarity influence the mating behavior of cuttlefish. Behavioral ecology and sociobiology, 69, 283-292.Wada, T., Takegaki, T., Mori, T., & Natsukari, Y. (2005). Sperm displacement behavior of the cuttlefish Sepia esculenta (Cephalopoda: Sepiidae). Journal of ethology, 23, 85-92.Wada, T., Takegaki T., Mori T., & Natsukari Y. (2010) Sperm removal, ejaculation and their behavioural interaction in male cuttlefish in response to female mating history, Animal Behaviour, Vol 79, Issue 3, Pages 613-619, ISSN 0003-3472, Cephalopod Camouflage: Cells and Organs of the skinhttps://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/cephalopod-camouflage-cells-and-organs-of-the-144048968/#:~:text=Chromatophores%20are%20organs%20that%20are,within%20a%20chromatophore%20nerve%20(Fig.: