This awesome paper on “sneaker squid” made headlines a few weeks ago. And so it should! I mean, SNEAKER SQUID? Heeeeehehehehe. Not only that, it’s got SPERM.
Obviously I must blog this.
Iwata et al. “Why small squid have big sperm: dimorphic squid sperm linked to alternative mating behaviors” BMC Evolutionary Biology, 2011.
And of course, I can’t just BLOG it. Sneaking Squid, that’s song worthy…
Well, it won’t let me embed. But suffice to say today’s Friday Weird Science is based on this song.
When you’re out in the ocean and you see a fly squid
Be a Sneak (haaa)
Be a Sneak! (haaa)
And if you want a solution to win evolution
Be a Sneak! (haaa)
Be a Sneak! (haaa)
Well we found a new behavior so shut your squid beak
It’s real easy to do, and it’s call the Sneak
Wait for a real big male to get all up on your girl
Let him to all the work to make her tentacles curl
Now you just slide on up, right, right alongside
Come on in at an angle and make sure you can hide
Now you transfer your sperm without them taking a peek
And get the hell out of Dodge, you’re a certified Sneak!
When you’re a Loligo bleekeri and suck at polyandry
Be a Sneak! (haaa)
Be a Sneak! (haaa)
If you’re a small kid squid and big boys got you beat
Be a Sneak! (haaa)
Be a Sneak! (haaa)
It’s some strong sex selection that will make you sneaky
when you can win a girl with size, you gotta be cheeky
Only big squid get the ladies, small squid started to beg
They had to change if they were going to get a piece of those eggs.
Small squid been sneakin’ since the day they evolved
All their problems with mating, now their problems were solved.
While the big boy squid get their small sperm in her oviduct tract
The small sneaker squid put big sperm outside, that is a fact.
When you’re a small Loligo it’s more than behavioral
Sneaking also means some evolution physiological
When squid release their sperm, the release small tiny ones
When sneakers squirt their stuff they squirt big round shiny ones!
And sneakers laugh “hahahahahahaha”
While big squid work “lalalalalalalala”
So gather all you sneakers and send out your swimmers
Don’t sleep, come on get your sneak on with me!
When competitive fertilization makes you afraid of castration
Be a Sneak (haaa)
Be a Sneak! (haaa)
And when her tentacles shake cause she’s with a beefcake
Be a Sneak! (haaa)
Be a Sneak! (haa)
So when you’ve got a small squid body and you want to mate a hottie
Be a Sneak! (haaa)
Be a Sneak! (haaa)
Iwata, Y., Shaw, P., Fujiwara, E., Shiba, K., Kakiuchi, Y., & Hirohashi, N. (2011). Why small males have big sperm: dimorphic squid sperm linked to alternative mating behaviours BMC Evolutionary Biology, 11 (1) DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-11-236
