Dumpling squids prioritise sex over safety

Dumpling squids prioritise reproduction over safety, a new research shows.

Dumpling squids are species of cephalopod that live in the shallow waters off the coast of Victoria in Australia.

This might be because dumpling squid live short, solitary lives and thus view mating - even in dangerous conditions - as imperative, Smithsonian.com reported.

The researchers investigated the effect of increased predation risk on the reproductive behaviour of dumpling squid (Euprymna tasmanica).

"Predation risk did not affect copulation duration, the likelihood of mating, female anti-predator behavior during or after mating or male anti-predator behavior at any time," said the researchers from the University of Melbourne in Australia.

For the study, they collected 15 pairs of wild dumpling squids.

They also introduced 15 of the squid's most common natural predator, a type of fish called the sand flathead.

The researchers found that only females, but not males, showed a substantial increase in inking - a common anti-predator defence in cephalopods, thought to act like a smokescreen, decoy or distraction - before mating commenced in the presence of the sand flathead (Platycephalus bassensis).

The study appeared in the journal PLOS ONE.