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“Obviously a strongly elongated penis is the solution”

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“The mature male squid was caught during a deep-water research cruise on the Patagonian slope. We took the animal from the catch, and it was moribund with arms and tentacles still moving, and chromatophores on the skin contracting and expanding,” he told the BBC.

“When the mantle of the squid was opened for maturity assessment, we witnessed an unusual event.

“The penis of the squid, which had extended only slightly over the mantle margin, suddenly started to erect, and elongated quickly to 67cm total length, almost the same length as the whole animal.”

[...]

Deep-water male squid are known to use a more primitive method, which involves somehow injecting their sperm into the female’s body.

However, it remained a mystery as to how they did it, as they lack a modified arm.

“In deep-water squid we could only guess how this happens,” says Dr Arkhipkin.

But the catching of the male deep-sea squid, of the species Onykia ingens, has revealed the answer.

“Obviously a strongly elongated penis is the solution,” says Dr Arkhipkin.

The squid uses its lengthy organ to reach into the body of the female, and it then injects the sperm directly to prevent it being washed away.

How the sperm injected into a female’s body then reaches her reproductive organs remains a mystery.

It may circulate in the cephalopod’s blood, just as it does in the bodies of gastropods, which are snail-like molluscs that are distantly related to cephalopods, which are also molluscs.

Posted by Owen at 0753 hrs
Off-Duty

1. Your headline is the ultimate “that’s what she said.”

   Posted by scott on July 07, 2010 at 1504 hrs
   
   
   

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