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Euprymna hyllebergi Nateewathana, 1997 a-dorsal, b-ventral, c-hectocotylus. (Source: Nateewathana 1997)
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The bobtail squid, Euprymna hyllebergi, was cultured in the laboratory through three generations. Eggs were deposited as single egg capsules, pyramid shape with a calcified chorion. The incubation period was 14.0±1.8 days at 28°C. Hatchlings were temporarily planktonic becoming benthic after 6–8 hrs. Mean mantle length was 2.20±0.04 mm and weight 0...
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... hyllebergi was firstly described from the Andaman Sea of Thailand (Indian Ocean) (Nateewathana 1997) (Fig. 1). Occurrence in the Gulf of Thailand (Pacific Ocean) was also recorded ( Nateewathana et al. 2001). Nilaphat (2001) successfully cultured E. hyllebergi to one life cycle of about 3 months after hatching. Bilobed yolk sac was observed during the embryonic development. The hatchlings were planktonic of approximately 2 mm ML and daily ...
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... mantle length (mm) and age (days after hatching) was expressed as the exponential model in the early phase and the quadratic regression model in the second phase ( The relationship between weight (g) and age (days after hatching) was expressed as the exponential model in the early phase and the cubic regression model in the following phase (Fig. 11): W = 2.750 x10 -3 e 0.153A (r 2 = 0.895, n = 936) and W = 1.952 -0.147A +3.570 x10 -3 A 2 - 1.728 x10 -5 A 3 (r 2 = 0.805, n = ...
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... formation. Courtship with colour displays and agonistic behaviour was not observed. The male attended the swimming female then approached and grasped her from below in male to female neck Figure 9. Relationships between mantle length (mm) and weight (g) of Euprymna hyllebergi, intercept of the two regressions at 5.5 mm mantle length. position (Fig. 12). The colour pattern of the male was dark brown during mating. The male initially grasped the female at her mantle, using arms II, III and IV, then the grasp shifted to the female neck. The female was pulled down to bottom where copulation took place (Fig. 12). The male hectocotylus was inserted into the female mantle cavity (Fig. 13). ...
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... Euprymna hyllebergi, intercept of the two regressions at 5.5 mm mantle length. position (Fig. 12). The colour pattern of the male was dark brown during mating. The male initially grasped the female at her mantle, using arms II, III and IV, then the grasp shifted to the female neck. The female was pulled down to bottom where copulation took place (Fig. 12). The male hectocotylus was inserted into the female mantle cavity (Fig. 13). The colour pattern of the female was pale brown during copulation. Copulation took 7-10 min and the pair separated after that. Spawning was observed at dawn, 2-3 days after mating. Prior to spawning, the female investigated substrata for attaching her egg ...
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... position (Fig. 12). The colour pattern of the male was dark brown during mating. The male initially grasped the female at her mantle, using arms II, III and IV, then the grasp shifted to the female neck. The female was pulled down to bottom where copulation took place (Fig. 12). The male hectocotylus was inserted into the female mantle cavity (Fig. 13). The colour pattern of the female was pale brown during copulation. Copulation took 7-10 min and the pair separated after that. Spawning was observed at dawn, 2-3 days after mating. Prior to spawning, the female investigated substrata for attaching her egg capsules by swimming around, touching the substrata with the tip of her arm ...
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... to spawning, the female investigated substrata for attaching her egg capsules by swimming around, touching the substrata with the tip of her arm cone. At the Figure 12. Stages in mating behaviour of Euprymna hyllebergi; a) female hovers by, male attention, b) male approaches female from below, c) male grasps female by mantle, d) male-grasp moves to female's neck, e) male pulls female down to substrate, copulation follows. ...
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... behaviour of Euprymna hyllebergi; a) female hovers by, male attention, b) male approaches female from below, c) male grasps female by mantle, d) male-grasp moves to female's neck, e) male pulls female down to substrate, copulation follows. selected site, the female moved towards the substratum from her lying position to attach her egg capsules (Fig. 14). The period of attaching was 40-60 seconds (s) for one capsule. The interval between each capsule attachment lengthened as the number of capsules increased, up to 2-3 minutes. During the interval between egg-laying, the female twisted her mantle to left and right several times and stopped for 10-20 s before attaching another capsule. ...
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... During the interval between egg-laying, the female twisted her mantle to left and right several times and stopped for 10-20 s before attaching another capsule. No subsequent maternal care on the egg capsules was observed. Spawning behaviour was normally cryptic. In cultured tanks, the female attached her egg capsules to the underside of coral (Fig. 15) and on the ceiling of PVC pipe "dens". In tanks without cryptic sites, egg capsules were attached in exposed sites i.e. lateral side of coral, tank wall at about 100-150 mm above the bottom. Spawning was continuous and intermittent, egg capsules were laid in only one or several batches in a period of about 1-20 days. Number of egg ...
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... in growth is reflected in the nature of the growth models. The stage where the models shifted to a higher elevation was at about 30 days after hatching, corresponding to the observed settlement stage (Figs. 9-11). Hanlon et al. (1997) reported the mantle length-age relationship as ML = 0.102 +0.217A (r 2 = 0.914, n = 49) and the weight-age relationship was W = 3.296 x10 -3 e (8.373 x10*-2)A (r 2 = 0.945, n= 34) in cultured E. scolopes. These models differ from the present study for E. hyllebergi. Growth patterns of E. scolopes were simple for ...
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... to other cultured sepioid cephalopods, E. hyllebergi is the smallest species and the spawning of E. hyllebergi was more terminal both on basis of age (days) after hatching ( Fig. 16a) and period of longevity as percentage of life span (Fig. 16b). The spawning time of Sepia pharaonis and Sepiella inermis was at around 80% of their life span while of E. hyllbergi was at 97% of its life span. This might indicate that the strategy of this small species is to spend a comparatively longer proportion of its life in ...
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... to other cultured sepioid cephalopods, E. hyllebergi is the smallest species and the spawning of E. hyllebergi was more terminal both on basis of age (days) after hatching ( Fig. 16a) and period of longevity as percentage of life span (Fig. 16b). The spawning time of Sepia pharaonis and Sepiella inermis was at around 80% of their life span while of E. hyllbergi was at 97% of its life span. This might indicate that the strategy of this small species is to spend a comparatively longer proportion of its life in collective energy storage in order to reach maximal reproductive ...
Citations
... They are small benthic squids with a worldwide distribution, ranging from tropical to temperate waters and all sub-polar oceans (Nateewathana 1997;Aungtonya et al. 2011). The sepiolid bobtail squids of the genus Euprymna are small (< 100 mm mantle length) with a preference for benthic habitat (Nabhitabhata et al. 2005), living near the shallow waters of the Indo-Pacific (Norman and Lu 1997). Euprymna hyllebergi Nateewathana, 1997 is a species of bobtail squid belonging to the Sepiolidae family and subfamily Sepiolinae distributed in the Indian Ocean, particularly in the Andaman Sea off the coast of Thailand (Nateewathana 1997;Aungtonya et al. 2011;Khatami et al. 2014). ...
... Euprymna hyllebergi has been assessed as ''Data Deficient'' in the IUCN Red List of threatened species, therefore, further research is recommended to resolve taxonomic uncertainties and determine population trends and life history patterns of this species (Barratt and Allcock 2012). Nabhitabhata et al. (2005) successfully studied the life cycle of cultured E. hyllebergi in the laboratory through three successive generations, and they are advantageous for smallscale closed or open seawater culture systems (Nabhitabhata and Nishiguchi 2014). Although this species is of no interest to fisheries currently (Reid and Jereb 2005), several sepiolid species, landed as bycatch along the Thailand Coast, hold significant commercial value (Supongpan 1995;Nateewathana 1997). ...
The small benthic squid Euprymna hyllebergi is reported for the first time from the southeastern Arabian Sea along the Indian coast. A total of 97 individuals (56 females and 41 males) were collected from commercial trawls. The dorsal mantle length (DML) of the individuals ranged from 21 to 46.5 mm for males and 24 to 50 mm for females. This species has previously been reported only from the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Thailand, and the Andaman Sea. Detailed morphometric, meristic, and molecular data for this species are provided. The documentation of this squid from India expands the catalogue of cephalopod fauna of the Arabian Sea, shedding new insights on its distribution patterns.
... The study of cephalopod development and evolution is a growing area of research that has led to increasing demand for embryos and animals at all stages of their life cycle Peyer et al., 2014;Koenig et al., 2016;Navet et al., 2017;Tarazona et al., 2019). While for many purposes wild-caught animals can be studied, and hatchings raised to juvenile or later stages in the laboratory, multigenerational cultures have only been initiated for some cephalopods including octopus (Iglesias et al., 2004;Rosas et al., 2014;Vidal et al., 2014;Maldonado et al., 2019;Grearson et al., 2021), sepioids (Minton et al., 2001;Walsh et al., 2002;Nabhitabhata, 2014), sepiolids (Boletzky et al., 1971;Nabhitabhata et al., 2005;Jones and Richardson, 2010;Nabhitabhata and Nishiguchi, 2014;Sanchez et al., 2019), and the myopsid squid Sepioteuthis lessoniana (Forsythe et al., 1994). Large-scale multigenerational cephalopod culture systems are not only a necessity for forward genetics but is also desirable for targeted approaches like CRISPR-Cas genome editing (Jinek et al., 2012;Doudna and Charpentier, 2014). ...
... Several species of Sepiola and Euprymna have been cultured to the second generation (Boletzky et al., 1971;Jones and Richardson, 2010;Sanchez et al., 2019). Further, Euprymna tasmanica and Euprymna hyllebergi have been cultured to the third generation (Nabhitabhata et al., 2005;Nabhitabhata and Nishiguchi, 2014). ...
... We cultured E. berryi and E. morsei under conditions similar to those used for other bobtail squid (Hanlon et al., 1997;Nabhitabhata et al., 2005;Jones and Richardson, 2010;Sanchez et al., 2019) (Methods). We spawned wild-caught adults of both species and cultured E. berryi to the third filial generation and E. morsei to the second filial generation. ...
Cephalopod research remains limited by the inability to culture species under laboratory conditions for multiple generations to provide continuous access to animals at all stages of the life cycle. Here, we describe a multi-generational laboratory culture system for two emerging cephalopod models: the hummingbird or Berry’s bobtail squid, Euprymna berryi Sasaki, 1929, and Morse’s bobtail squid, Euprymna morsei Verrill, 1881, which are primarily found off mainland Japan. E. berryi wild adults were spawned and raised to the third filial generation, and E. morsei wild adults were spawned and raised to the second filial generation in a closed system at 20°C. We report growth and survivorship data for a cohort of 30 individuals across the first generation raised in captivity. E. berryi and E. morsei grew exponentially during the first 90 and 60 days post-hatching, respectively. Survivorship at the first spawning event for E. berryi and E. morsei was 90% and 77%. E. berryi and E. morsei females spawned after days 112 and 71 days post-hatching, respectively. We describe the life history of each species and how to distinguish sexes. We discuss the challenges of cephalopod culture and how culturing these species address those problems.
... As a result of the closure of the life cycle in captivity for several sepiolid species and their comparatively easy maintenance and cultivation requirements (Boletzky and Hanlon 1983;Hanlon et al. 1997;Nabhitabhata et al. 2005;Jones and Richardson 2010;Sanchez et al. 2019), sepiolid cephalopods have been growing in popularity as model organisms for a range of biological studies. This is especially true for the Hawaiian bobtail squid Euprymna scolopes Berry, 1913 which has been used as a well-established model for host-microbe interactions due to its symbiosis with Vibrio bacteria (Ruby 1996;Lee et al. 2009b;Mandel and Dunn 2016;McAnulty and Nyholm 2017;Nyholm and McFall-Ngai 2021). ...
... Both Anderson and Mather (1996) and Drerup et al. (2020) reported from field studies that adult sepiolids are commonly encountered close to the bottom, whereas their hatchlings have mainly been found in the water column. These findings coincide with observations from laboratory studies (Bergstrom and Summers 1983;Singley 1983;Summers and Colvin 1989;Hanlon et al. 1997;Nabhitabhata et al. 2005;Jones and Richardson 2010), suggesting that sepiolid hatchlings undergo an actively planktonic phase. Following the latter studies, the length of this planktonic phase is species dependent. ...
... Following the latter studies, the length of this planktonic phase is species dependent. Whereas hatchlings of S. atlantica were reported to spend the first six days entirely in the water column before adapting a benthic lifestyle (Jones and Richardson 2010), hatchlings of the genus Euprymna Steenstrup, 1887 only spent between 6-48 h constantly swimming before gradually resting longer on the bottom and adapting a fully benthic lifestyle after 30 days (Hanlon et al. 1997;Nabhitabhata et al. 2005). In contrast to adult sepiolids, little is known about their paralarvae. ...
Sepiolidae (Cephalopoda: Sepiolida) are growing in popularity as model organisms, not least because of their well-studied symbiotic relationship with light producing bacteria. Their easy maintenance and cultivation requirements in captivity have further facilitated their use in a wide range of developmental, anatomical, neurophysiological, behavioural and genetic studies, exhibiting promising opportunities for these cephalopods in research. Considering the rising interest in sepiolids, a detailed overview of their behavioural ecology is necessary to understand their evolution and conservation, as well as to aid establishment of good welfare practice when held in captivity. To date, not all aspects of the sepiolid ecology have been investigated in detail, and our current knowledge of their behavioural ecology is, for the most part, restricted to descriptions from less than 10 of the approximately 80 species, occasionally resulting in a generalisation of specific observations across species, genera, or even subfamilies. This review summarises current knowledge on sepiolid behavioural ecology and life history, including discussions on their habitat, life span, activity patterns, hunting and feeding behaviour, anti-predator behaviour, burying behaviour, and reproductive behaviour. Moreover, future directions as well as areas of interest for upcoming research studies are highlighted.
... In addition, two species of bobtail squid (S. birostrata and E. berryi), characterized as small-sized and short-lived (100 d; Nabhitabhata et al., 2005), contributed greatly to the fisheries in spring, which implies that spring might be the main recruitment season for these two species in the Haizhou Bay. As the catch of Loliolus spp. ...
Climate change and intensive fishing have affected not only population abundance, but also species composition. Cephalopods have been increasing in abundance in the world ocean under climate change due to their flexible life-history traits, including the over-exploited China Seas. Despite the increasing importance of coastal cephalopods in the China Seas, there have been no reports of changes in either species composition, nor the ecological roles of species with different life-history traits. Thus, this study first presents the changes in species composition of coastal cephalopods throughout the China Seas as summarized from fishery-independent survey reports over the last six decades. This is followed by an investigation of species composition of cephalopods in Haizhou Bay in the Yellow Sea. The ecological roles of two currently targeted cephalopods, Amphioctopus fangsiao and Loliolus spp. (Loliolus beka and Loliolus japonicus), are evaluated using an ecosystem model. The species composition of coastal cephalopods in the China Seas has changed since the 1960s, from species of large size and high value to small-size, low-value species. Cephalopod species composition in Haizhou Bay shows great seasonality, which is probably due largely to the characteristics of their life cycle. The population abundance of A. fangsiao and Loliolus spp. appear to be affected by ambient water temperature, and population distribution of Loliolus spp. seems to correlate with water depth. Occupying the highest trophic level in this ecosystem, A. fangsiao potentially displays strong top-down control over other organisms. Loliolus spp. are keystone species showing higher keystoneness in the autumn, owing to a low abundance of fish species which normally prey on them. The species-specific life-history traits and ecological roles of cephalopods are therefore important factors to consider in order to manage them effectively.
... In most cephalopod species one arm, or more than one or a part of it, is modified into a hectocotylus or copulatory arm designed to transfer spermatophores during copulation (e.g., Naef, 1923), which is carried out according to a fairly homogeneous, i.e., monophyletic taxon (Bello, 2020). It contains some 36 well established species of which only seven have actually been observed during mating: Eumandya parva (Sasaki, 1914) (Drerup et al., 2020), Euprymna hyllebergi Nateewathana, 1997 (Nabhitabhata et al., 2005), Euprymna scolopes Berry, 1913 (Hanlon et al., 1997;Moynihan, 1983;Singley, 1983); Euprymna tasmanica (Pfeffer, 1884) (Squires et al., 2013), Sepietta obscura Naef, 1916(Deickert, 2009, Sepiola affinis Naef, 1912(Mangold-Wirz, 1963Mauris, 1988), Sepiola atlantica d'Orbigny, 1842 (Goud et al., 2019;Jones & Richardson, 2010;Levy, 1912;Racovitza, 1894;Rodrigues et al., 2009) and Sepiola sp. (Boletzky 1983). ...
... This paper describes for the first time the mating behaviour in Sepiola intermedia and gives additional information on mating in Sepiola affinis and Sepietta obscura. Our observations largely coincide with recent observations on other Sepiolinae, both in the same genus Sepiola (Jones & Richardson, 2010;Rodrigues et al., 2009) and in the genera Euprymna (Nabhitabhata et al., 2005;Squires et al., 2013) and Eumandya (Drerup et al., 2020). ...
... Meanwhile, the male restlessly swam around her, keeping at about 5-6 cm distance, alternating swimming with staying still on the bottom of the tank with his arms spread out; this author herself was not able to judge, by just one observation, whether this behaviour might be deemed a courtship. Detailed descriptions of mating are given by Hanlon et al. (1997) for Euprymna scolopes, Nabhitabhata et al. (2005) for Euprymna hyllebergi, Rodrigues et al. (2009) and Jones and Richardson (2010) for Sepiola atlantica, Squires et al. (2013) for Euprymna tasmanica, Drerup et al. (2020) for Eumandya parva. A concise description of copulation in Sepiola atlantica is given by Goud et al. (2019); this paper also includes a photograph of a mating pair taken in the wild. ...
Mating was observed and described in captive individuals of Sepiola affinis, Sepiola intermedia and Sepietta obscura (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae) collected in the Catalan Sea, western Mediterranean Sea. This is the first report of a mating event in S. intermedia; it is also the first detailed description of the mating behaviour for the other two species. The published literature on mating in Sepiolinae, which includes both cursory reports and in-depth descriptions of mating events, was thoroughly reviewed. In all, copulation has been examined in eight species belonging to four different genera, namely, Eumandya, Euprymna, Sepietta and Sepiola, starting from 1894 to the present. Common traits of the mating behaviour were detected among the studied sepioline species, so that a general five stages succession of actions is established to portray the mating progress in Sepiolinae: (A) female hovers by, male attention (it is discussed whether actual copulation is preceded by any courtship); (B) male approaches female from below; (C) male grasps female at the neck by its third arms, inserts its first arms in the female's mantle cavity (the hectocotylised left arm is thus aligned with the bursa copulatrix), holds the female's mantle by its second arms and positions itself and mate in the "parallel position"; (D) copulation and transfer of spermatophores from male to female (this stage may last from 3 min to 3 h); (E) mating dissolution. Mating occurs preferentially during the dark hours; it is described as violent and the female tries to escape the forceful grasp by the male; the male skin coloration turns darker. The similarity of the mating behaviour in all examined sepioline species is an evidence of both its evolution in harmony with their copula-tory organs (hectocotylus and bursa copulatrix) and, seemingly, its common derivation to the whole Sepiolinae clade.
... This so-called sand coat (sensu Singley 1982) has so far only been observed in two genera of the subfamily Sepiolinae (e.g. Singley 1982Singley , 1983Shears 1988;Nabhitabhata et al. 2005;Drerup et al. 2020). Therefore, our observations In the subfamily Sepiolinae, these sand coats adhere due to the secretions of two different gland types in the dorsal epidermis (von Byern et al. 2017) and are presumably used as cryptic camouflage (Singley 1982;Shears 1988). ...
... Nevertheless, mating occurred in the 'male-to-female neck' position, and the couple remained moderately motionless on the sediment for the length of recording (Fig. 4a-b). Therefore, the mating behaviour of wild R. macrosoma is similar to that of captive individuals of this species (Racovitza 1894;Mangold-Wirz 1963), as well as to R. pacifica (Brocco 1971) and most species of the subfamily Sepiolinae (Nabhitabhata et al. 2005;Rodrigues et al. 2009;Squires et al. 2013). ...
... Freshly laid eggs were soft and black in colour but became to some extent rigid and blue over time ( Fig. 6a-d). All observed egg batches consisted of several layers of eggs (Fig. 6a, c-f), as commonly observed in R. macrosoma (Racovitza, 1894;Boletzky & Boletzky, 1973), R. pacifica (Summers & Colvin, 1989;Anderson & Shimek, 1994) and some other bobtail squid species (Nabhitabhata et al. 2005;Rodrigues et al. 2011). Our findings show that females frequently deposit their eggs on already existing egg batches (Fig. 6a-d). ...
Bobtail squids (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae) are emerging model organisms for a wide range of genetic, anatomical, neuro-physiological and behavioural studies. However, the knowledge about their behavioural ecology is scarce and derives mainly from laboratory-based studies, whereas observations from the wild are rare. Here, we use photo and video footage collected through the Cephalopod Citizen Science Project to describe the hunting, burying, mating and spawning behaviour of the stout bobtail squid Rossia macrosoma (Delle Chiaje, 1830) from Scottish waters. Based on our long-term observations, we were able to determine a spawning period from August to November based on different behavioural traits for this species. Furthermore, we observed R. macrosoma to be able to adhere a sand grain layer ('sand coat') to its dorsal mantle. This behavioural feature has only been reported for two genera of the sepiolid subfamily Sepiolinae so far, and therefore represents the first of this kind for the subfamily Rossiinae. Lastly, we identified a local sea urchin species as an active predator of egg batches of R. macrosoma and discussed the cryptic egg laying behaviour of this bobtail squid species in terms of its protective traits to avoid egg predation.
... In squids like Sepioteuthis lessoniana and S. australis mating position is called 'head to head', where male holds the female with the arms (Boal and Gonzalez 1998). In sepiolids, however, the copulatory strategy observed is the so-called 'male to female neck', accompanied by intense color patterns characteristic for each sex (Moynihan 1983;Nabhitabhata et al. 2005;Rodrigues et al. 2009). Mangold (1987 observed two mating positions in specimens of Family Octopodidae: the 'distance position' in which male and female remain separated during the copulation (only joined by the hectocotyle), and the 'close position' in which the male rides the female. ...
Patagonian octopus (Octopus tehuelchus) is a species that holds an artisanal fishery in the northern area of the Argentine Patagonian coast and has a potential for aquaculture development. This work aimed to characterize the mating behavior of four pairs of Patagonian octopuses under laboratory conditions. Results showed that this species has a complex reproductive behavior. Remarkably, female remained inside her shelter during pre-copula, copulation and intercourse events. Male and female faced by the oral face during sexual intercourse, which lasted 3 to 5 min. The observations will contribute to the better management of the reproductive specimens of the species in captivity.
... Contrarily to some other cephalopod species (Hanlon and Messenger, 2018), no pair formation or courtship behaviour was observed for sepiolids in previous studies (Jones and Richardson, 2010;Nabhitabhata et al., 2005;Rodrigues et al., 2009;Squires et al., 2013). Mating is initiated by a male sepiolid approaching a swimming female from below, manipulating the female into the 'male-to-female neck' position and inserting his hectocotylus into the female's mantle cavity (Boletzky, 1983;Hanlon et al., 1997;Nabhitabhata et al., 2005;Rodrigues et al., 2009;Singley, 1983;Squires et al., 2013). ...
... Contrarily to some other cephalopod species (Hanlon and Messenger, 2018), no pair formation or courtship behaviour was observed for sepiolids in previous studies (Jones and Richardson, 2010;Nabhitabhata et al., 2005;Rodrigues et al., 2009;Squires et al., 2013). Mating is initiated by a male sepiolid approaching a swimming female from below, manipulating the female into the 'male-to-female neck' position and inserting his hectocotylus into the female's mantle cavity (Boletzky, 1983;Hanlon et al., 1997;Nabhitabhata et al., 2005;Rodrigues et al., 2009;Singley, 1983;Squires et al., 2013). The duration of the copulation varies significantly from 7 to 10 min in Euprymna hyllebergi (Nabhitabhata et al., 2005) up to more than 3 h in Euprymna tasmanica (Squires et al., 2013). ...
... Mating is initiated by a male sepiolid approaching a swimming female from below, manipulating the female into the 'male-to-female neck' position and inserting his hectocotylus into the female's mantle cavity (Boletzky, 1983;Hanlon et al., 1997;Nabhitabhata et al., 2005;Rodrigues et al., 2009;Singley, 1983;Squires et al., 2013). The duration of the copulation varies significantly from 7 to 10 min in Euprymna hyllebergi (Nabhitabhata et al., 2005) up to more than 3 h in Euprymna tasmanica (Squires et al., 2013). ...
Bobtail squids (Sepiolidae, Cephalopoda) have recently been growing in popularity in scientific studies due to their symbiotic relationship with light producing bacteria and their corresponding light emitting organs. However, the overall knowledge on the behaviour of sepiolids is based on observations on just a few of the roughly 70 extant species and must still be considered as sparsely. Understanding their behavioural ecology is not only beneficial to further grasp the complex behavioural patterns of cephalopods, it is also vital for establishing a good welfare practice when holding sepiolids in captivity. Hence, the present study characterised several behavioural aspects of the spotty bobtail squid Euprymna parva. Although the burying, hunting and mating behaviour as well as most escape responses of this less investigated sepiolid species greatly resembled those of other observed bobtail squids, differences to sepiolids from other genera or even from the same genus could be identified in the present study. Additionally, the first observation of an up to now undescribed inking behaviour of sepiolids is reported. E. parva was observed to eject a stretch of ink (‘ink rope’), approximately 4–5 times the length of the animal, and hold on to it motionless, potentially as a masquerade to resemble a floating seagrass leave. The present study further provides detailed information on daily time and activity budgets as well as the tentacular strike speed during hunting, two up to now barely investigated behavioural aspects of the sepiolid ecology.
... Quite unlike companion vertebrates (e.g., cats, dogs, rabbits, fish; see also : Howell, 2002;Rollin, 2006;Spencer et al., 2006;Preece, 2007;Broom, 2011) whose case for protection was supported also by independent knowledge from breeders, fanciers, eventually veterinarians (a knowledge different from and, at times, conflicting with the "scientific evidence"), we find ourselves here in a situation in which we can rely almost only on the wisdom of fishermen and aquarium keepers, and on the relatively limited laboratory-based data (both for experiments and regarding animal maintenance) for the most common cephalopod species. Moreover, cephalopods are "found" animals, they cannot as a rule be reared in captivity (but see, for example: Hanlon et al., 1997;Nabhitabhata et al., 2005;Sykes et al., 2014). This introduces a further variable to the system, the bearing of animals' previous experience on the whole process of acclimatization and on the individual responsiveness of the subjects to the "protocols" utilized in experiments and observations. ...
The Directive 2010/63/EU “on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes” originally induced some concern among cephalopod researchers, because of the inclusion of cephalopod mollusks as the only invertebrates among the protected species. Here we reflect on the challenges and issues raised by the Directive on cephalopod science, and discuss some of the arguments that elicited discussion within the scientific community, to facilitate the implementation of the Directive 2010/63/EU in the scientific research context. A short overview of the aims of the COST Action FA1301 “CephsInAction,” serves as a paradigmatic instance of a pragmatic and progressive approach adopted to respond to novel legislative concerns through community-building and expansion of the historical horizon. Between 2013 and 2017, the COST Action FA1301 has functioned as a hub for consolidation of the cephalopod research community, including about 200 representatives from 21 countries (19 European). Among its aims, CephsInAction promoted the collection, rationalization, and diffusion of knowledge relevant to cephalopods. In the Supplementary Material to this work, we present the translation of the first-published systematic set of guidelines on the care, management and maintenance of cephalopods in captivity (Grimpe, 1928), as an example of the potential advantages deriving from the confluence of pressing scientific concerns and historical interests.
... In squids like Sepioteuthis lessoniana and S. australis mating position is called 'head to head', where male holds the female with the arms (Boal and Gonzalez 1998). In sepiolids, however, the copulatory strategy observed is the so-called 'male to female neck', accompanied by intense color patterns characteristic for each sex (Moynihan 1983;Nabhitabhata et al. 2005;Rodrigues et al. 2009). Mangold (1987 observed two mating positions in specimens of Family Octopodidae: the 'distance position' in which male and female remain separated during the copulation (only joined by the hectocotyle), and the 'close position' in which the male rides the female. ...
Patagonian octopus (Octopus tehuelchus) is a species that holds an artisanal fishery in the northern area of the Argentine Patagonian coast and has a potential for aquaculture development. This work aimed to characterize the mating behavior of four pairs of Patagonian octopuses under laboratory conditions. Results showed that this species has a complex reproductive behavior. Remarkably, female remained inside her shelter during pre-copula, copulation and intercourse events. Male and female faced by the oral face during sexual intercourse, which lasted 3 to 5 min. The observations will contribute to the better management of the reproductive specimens of the species in captivity.
