Cephalopods of Love

By smartyboots • Apr 18th, 2008 • Category: science

I dreamt about cuttlefish last night. I was up late watching an episode of Nova about cuttlefish called Kings of Camouflage, because that’s just the sort of nerd I am. Fortunately, my dreams were all about them growning spines and changing colors, and not about their unfortunate resemblance to Cthulhu, the the great old one from another dimension. Normally I don’t remember my dreams at all – apparently watching an hour of eye popping cuttlefish transformations has a much greater impact on my slumber than a late night burrito.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/6my39lzd-LM" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
There were no sexy parts to my cuttlefish dreams, but if there had been, it would have been about this:

Among their range of unusual sexual antics is “sneaky sex”, where the physically smaller males, who can’t compete with larger males, “cross-dress”. The smaller males change body colour and trick the stronger males into thinking they’re females. When the strong males are not looking, the smaller males change colour again and quickly mate with the females.

Apparently “cross dressing” is the accepted scientific term for this type of camouflage (octopuses do it too!). Also, according to Nova, the female cuttlefish actually preferred the sperm of the cross-dressing males over that of the larger males. Normally, I’m would not approve of resorting to subterfuge in one’s personal relationships, but that is possibly the best plan ever for getting laid (or, as they say in SCIENCE, reproduce). Kinda kinky, kinda bold… I kinda like it!

p.s. you can see some of the really cool Nova footage here.

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smartyboots >> a blogger here at Good Vibrations. Smartyboots likes technology, comic books and country music. She is a member of The Whoreshoes, San Francisco's premiere all-female country band.
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