Deep-Sea Squid Mate and Run

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Posted by Unknown on Wednesday September 21, 2011 @03:19AM from the disappear-before-morning dept.

sciencehabit writes with a piece about deep sea squid in Science. Quoting the article: "Like actors in a scene from a bawdy farce, many squid don't know whom to woo when the lights go down. Deep in California's Monterey Bay, small squid belonging to the species Octopoteuthis deletron suffer from frequent cases of mistaken identity, a new study suggests. Males commonly try to mate with males as well as females, hinting that in the dark, these invertebrates may settle for whatever squid passes by. But their indiscriminate attention might improve the odds that they are occasionally successful."

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Obvious by Hatta · 2011-09-21 03:20 · Score: 2

Who wants to wake up next to a squid?

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1. Re:Obvious by squidflakes · 2011-09-21 03:46 · Score: 2
  
  /raises hand
Re:I like it! by Jeng · 2011-09-21 03:29 · Score: 2

Squids aren't so much bisexual, more like rapesexual.

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I've seen enough Hentai... by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-21 03:36 · Score: 2, Funny

to know where this is going.
Re:I like it! by Nadaka · 2011-09-21 03:37 · Score: 5, Funny

So, you are saying that the Japanese were right?
Duh ... by gstoddart · 2011-09-21 03:38 · Score: 2

This seems fairly obvious. Squid will eat anything, including other squid.
I suspect this is to prevent your potential mate from turning you into dinner. So, fertilize and run like hell seems like a good strategy.

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1. Re:Duh ... by Rogerborg · 2011-09-21 04:37 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  It's so obvious that it's stated clearly in the article that you didn't bother reading. Hit Submit and run like hell works pretty well on Slashdot, right?
  
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  If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Re:After the 12th beer... by wintercolby · 2011-09-21 03:52 · Score: 2

Then you'd be the victim of the mistake.

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Most ignorance is vincible ignorance. We don't know because we don't want to know. --Aldous Huxley
Re:I've tried this and it doesn't work ... by SleazyRidr · 2011-09-21 04:15 · Score: 2

Clearly you need to hump your boss to work your way up the food chain.

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I am reminded of a song my cousins would sing... by Kemanorel · 2011-09-21 04:29 · Score: 2

"Any ol' port in a storm!"

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Unnatural Squid are an abonimation onto God... by bodland · 2011-09-21 05:14 · Score: 3, Funny

No wonder that calamari is off Leviticus' menu....unnatural fin-less fish. They obviously choose to mate with their own sex, these squid make bad lifestyle choices, they are ruining traditional marriage.
missed the weirdest part of the article by circletimessquare · 2011-09-21 05:38 · Score: 3, Informative

these squid don't mate at all
they literally shoot passing squid with little sperm packets that embed themselves permanently. the investigators determined that these squid mate indiscriminately because they counted just as many rocket injection sites on males as on females
so these squid aren't bisexual or gay, they are kineto-sexual. they just sexually shoot other squid

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