Lekking
You’ve really got to hand it to the “mad scientist” PZMyers. He’s followed up his post on squid propulsion with another fascinating post on squid nuptial dances. Here he quotes a 1997 study which gives more insight into the bizarre and sophisticated reproductive rituals of squid:
The cool thing is that they seem to be lekking. Lekking is a behavior best known in a few species of birds; all the males gather together in a small area, put on elaborate displays, and the females stroll among the males flaunting their stuff to pick and choose the most desirable. It’s a competitive scheme in which many males put on a show and fail…and it’s an excellent example of sexual selection in which female mate choice is paramount.
The squid do something similar. The males gather at dawn, and swim in large circles above the mating ground. Females join in later, and they all dart and dance together, and eventually pair off, mate, and lay eggs. Then they all do it again—the nuptial dances go on all day until an hour or two after sunset.
Wikipedia also has a good entry on lek (Animal Behavior):
A lek (from Swedish lek, a noun which typically denotes pleasurable and less rule-bound games and activities) is a tournament (the males of certain species of animals for the purposes of competitive mating display), held before and during the breeding season, day after day, when the same group of males meet at a traditional place and take up the same individual positions on an arena, each occupying and defending a small territory or court. Intermittently or continuously they spar with their neighbours one at a time, or display magnificent plumage, or vocal powers, or bizarre gymnastics…
There is no mention yet of the lekking behaviour of squid in the Wikipedia entry - perhaps someone who knows more about it can update the page.
December 9th, 2005 at 2:21 am
Not Lekking related, I’m afraid, but I thought Squidblog readers would enjoy this commercial:
http://home.comcast.net/~thewoozle/photos/toyota_bait.mpeg