Spying on a brooding deep-sea squid reveals that it cradles and aerates its eggs while they mature.
Abstract
Gonatus onyx is one of the most abundant cephalopods in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans1 and is an important prey species for a variety of vertebrate predators2,3, but a full understanding of its life history has been hampered because spawning occurs at great depths4,5, where observation is difficult. Here we describe post-spawning egg care, or brooding, in this deep-sea squid. Our finding is unexpected because this behaviour differs from the reproductive habits of all other known squid species.
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S1 Movie (download MOV )
Gonatus onyx (Cephalopoda: Teuthoidea). Egg-brooding female squid swimming away from the submersible, ROV Tiburon (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute). Eggs can be seen hatching at the distal end of the egg mass. Filmed on Dive 239 at 2,400 m, 16 November 2000. (MOV 3382 kb)
S2 Movie (download MOV )
Gonatus onyx (Cephalopoda: Teuthoidea). Female with eggs in an early stage of development exhibiting an aggressive escape response from the submersible. No hatching was observed. Dive 437, 2522 m, 11 June 2002. (MOV 4558 kb)
S3 Movie (download MOV )
Gonatus onyx (Cephalopoda: Teuthoidea). Female with eggs at an advanced stage of development making no apparent escape response from the submersible. The brooding female triggers premature hatching of eggs by expanding and contracting the arms. Dive 409, 1539 m, 20 March 2002. (MOV 5323 kb)
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Seibel, B., Robison, B. & Haddock, S. Post-spawning egg care by a squid. Nature 438, 929 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/438929a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/438929a
