Sexual Maturity

Cuttlefish hatch after 2-5 months with no parental care. They will then begin to hunt and mimic their surroundings. Cuttlefish have a lifespan of less than two years of age. There are no external, sexual appendages for either male or female cuttlefish, until they have reached sexual maturity. "In the English Channel, cuttlefish reach sexual maturity between 14 and 20 months of age," (Bouchard-Camou et al. 1991). Sexually mature cuttlefish will mate several times in their lifetime. The research article was interested in the distance a male cuttlefish would travel to find female mates. They observed that copulation takes place with the male and female cuttlefish facing one another with their arms. It usually takes 2.4 minutes per copulations, minus the time it takes the female to burrow her eggs. After the female's egg supplies are depleted, she will leave and die shortly after. Due to short sexual maturity, copulation with females is a competitive process. In an attempt to "cheat" competition for copulation, males can make one side of their body appear to look like a female and another side appear male. The research resulted in data that suggested that the older the male (most sexually mature) were more willing to travel farther distances for mates.