The bottom-dwelling flamboyant cuttlefish (Metasepia pfefferi) inhabits tropical waters off northern Australia. It is one of a very small number of cephalopods whose muscle tissue is highly poisonous. Females are much larger than males, and the species is known for its peculiar way of mating: face-to-face, the female allows the male to insert a tentacle holding a sperm packet into her mantle. After fertilising her eggs with the sperm, she lays them one by one in hidden spots, then leaves and dies a little while later. Her tiny offspring, when they hatch, must fend for themselves.
The toxic flamboyant cuttlefish is one of the few species to mate face-to-face
Director: Jose Lachat
18 August 2015
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