Footage of Mating Squid

Using a remotely operated vehicle named Little Hercules, scientists working aboard the NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer captured this footage of the squid species Pholidoteuthis adami mating in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The squid don’t appear to be laughing though.

The male is upside down, and backwards on top of the female and the terminal organ is extending from his funnel, presumably releasing spermatophores, from which spermatangia burrow into the dorsal mantle tissue of the female.

video by NOAA via Smithsonian Science

Thanks Julia!