Underwater Kama Sutra

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Found them in AsianDiver Magazine No 109, Issue 4/2010 :thumbsup: Some feature marine mating methods and sexual maturity info.... add on our reefing knowledge....

Dolphin sexual maturity ~2 to 15 years....

Dolphin become sexually active at a young age, even before reaching sexual maturity, which depends on species and gender. Females seem to be sexually receptive during a large part of the year and are normally responsible for initiating a courtingship that can last several days. Reproducing during spring, the dolphins swim together and pet each other with their fins, with the male making elaborate calls and swimming patterns. Just before mating, the male rubs and nuzzles the female. The mating act itself only lasts one to two seconds. It happens belly to belly and may be repeated several times within a short time span, Various species sometimes copulate with other dolphin species. Dolphins are known to have sex for reasons other than reproduction.

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pics by Tim Rock, AsianDiver Mag

Humpbacks reach sexual maturity between the ages of 6 and 10. For the massive mammals, courtship is a social activity:it involves an energetic and playful group that races along the surface at wild speeds, churning the water up into turbulent splashes of the breaching whales. The males use their teeth, tailstock, tail and other parts of their body as weapons when aggressive combat breaks out. Competition can be tough as females may mate with more than one male, choosing those that produce the largest quantity of sperm. In addition, males sing a long and complex song that can last up to 20 minutes - there exist two such songs, one sung by the humpbacks of the Pacific and one by thise of the Atlantic. Though the pitch of the sonf is most likely involved in the mating ritual, other males do respond to the song. This means it might be used for another purpose such as echolation.

WHOSE IS THE BIGGEST?

It's no surprice: the Earth's biggest animal is also the most well-endowed. Indeed, the blue whale holds the record for absolute size, with the largest penis measured reaching 2.4 metres!!!

Little is known about the mating ritual of blue whales due to the inherent difficulties of studying these animals. However, we do know that they mate from late autumn and all through winter, generally near the surface and in warm waters...

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Nudibranchs sexual maturity ~30 to 365 days....

Nudibranchs produce both sperm and eggs, which makes them hermaphrodites. This means that, within the same species, any mature individual is a potential mate. This, in turn, increases the chances of fertilization and maximizes reproductive potential. To mate, two nudibranchs align, side by side. The reproductive organs open on the right-hand side of their body and the individuals copulate facing opposite directions with their right sides connected. The act may take seconds or a whole day, depending on the species and is usually two-way. both individuals donating and storing sperm. Both then go their own way to lay one to six masses of eggs in an anti-clockwise spiral that may contain millions of eggs.

Nudi's mating...

Nudi's Egg

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More pics on Nudibranchs mating scene..

Mating Spanish Shawls (Flabellina iodinea) Step by Step

Mating Nudis...

Dorid nudibranch(Doriopsilla albopunctata)spawning

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Blue Crab Mating

from bluecrab.info

Mating

The blue crab's activity begins in early spring, when the waters of the Chesapeake Bay warm and the crabs stir from their dormant state. All winter, the females have remained on the bottom of the Bay, most of them in the deepest water. The mature males have been buried in the sediments of the estuaries, and the juveniles have sheltered in shallow-water habitats. During this time, the crabs have not eaten or ventured far from their resting place. With the arrival of spring and warmer temperatures, the male and female crabs begin to move away from their wintering grounds to look for food or seek out a mate.

Mating occurs primarily in relatively low-salinity waters in the upper areas of estuaries and lower portions of rivers. Mating takes place in areas where female crabs normally go to molt—shallow areas with marsh lined banks or beds of submergent vegetation. Blue crabs mate in the Chesapeake Bay from May through October. The primary mating seasons for blue crabs in Louisiana are April through June and September through October. Extended periods of low temperatures will usually significantly shorten the mating season.

The male may mate during its third or fourth intermolt phase after it matures. Females mate only once in their lives immediately following the pubertal, or so-called terminal molt.

Precopulation

When a mature male encounters a female that is about to molt to sexual maturity, the male will perform a rather elaborate courtship ritual, or dance, to get the female's attention. Upon initial contact, the male will stand up high on the tips of his walking legs. He will then wave his claws, stretching them out wide, extending them fully outwards, and will begin to fan pheromones (a chemical scent which attracts females) contained in his urine towards the female with his swimming paddles. Finally, he will snap his body backwards and kick up sand with both his swimming and walking legs. Should the female fail to respond, he will repeat the process again.

The female shows her interest by rocking and waving her claws in and out. She may or may not approach the male, turn around backwards, and attempt to wedge herself under him. Still waving her claws, the male responds by tapping and rubbing her claws with his. Soon she quiets down, tucking her claws into a submissive posture, and allows the male to clasp and carry her with his walking legs. In this position, the mated pair is called a "doubler" or a "buck and rider." She is right side up and facing forward. This is also known as a precopulatory embrace.

The male will "cradle carry" the female for 2 to 7 days until ecdysis (molting) is imminent. This serves two purposes. First, the male is able to protect the female from predators. Second, it assures that the male will be present during the brief time that the female's shell is soft and she's able to mate.

Once the female begins to molt, the male releases her and stands guard over her by making a cage with his walking legs. The molting process may take several hours to complete. This terminal molt marks the female's transition into sexual maturity, and is usually the last time she will shed.

During this transition, her abdomen changes from a "V" shape to a more rounded "U" shape. She is now called a "sook" and will only mate this one time in her life while her shell is still soft. The female must rest briefly to fill the voids of her new shell with water. Next, the male turns the her upside down so that their abdomens are touching, clasping her with his walking legs. This is known as a copulatory embrace.

Copulation

The female extends her hinged abdomen, exposing two genital pores known as gonopores. The female gonopores are large triangular openings in the sterna of the sixth thoracic segment, in line with the third pair of legs (see female anatomy for more information). The male inserts his gonopods (see next paragraph) into the genital pores and transfers seminal fluid which contains microscopic packets of sperm, called spermatophores, to the female. Each spermatophore packet contains several thousand sperm cells. Copulation will last from 5 to 12 hours.

Postcopulation

Following copulation, the female is once again clasped and cradle carried, right side up, facing forward, until her shell has had a chance to fully harden, about 48 hours. This is known as the postcopulatory embrace.

Once released, the female instinctively begins a migration to higher salinity waters so that she may spawn. Mass migration of schools of "sook" can be observed and plotted down the bays in June and again in August. The male stays put and will mate with several additional females.

During the female's migration, the egg cells in the her ovaries will begin to develop and will be ready for fertilization within one to two months after mating. Most females spawn for the first time two to nine months after mating, usually from May through August the following season (they overwinter before spawning by burrowing in the mud.)

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More pics on CRAB mating scene..

horseshoe crab's

Sponge crab (Ovigerous female), pregnant crab

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Horseshoe Crabs Anatomy

pics from njscuba.net

How to diffs male & Female...

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The Wrigglers

Cuttlefish sexual maturity ~14 to 24 months...

Males cuttlefish engage in a duel for mating partners after which males and females copulate face to face. The male transfers a spermatophore (a sealed packer of sperm) to a pouch on the underside of the female's mantle: he does so using a special spoon shaped arm either by flushing the female's sperm receptacle with a squirt of water or by removing other males' sperm. The female then scurries off to crevices or ledges in coral, rock or wood and fertilises her eggs with the sperm. In presence of multiple sperm deposits, the one at the back of the queue wins the day. The male usually dies just after the act and the female shortly after laying eggs..

pics by Aaron Wong, AsianDiver Mag

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More pics on cuttlefish mating scene..

step by step from deepseaimages.com

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More pics on cuttlefish mating scene..

continue from previous....

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More pics on cuttlefish mating scene..

Baby Bandensis cuttlefish inside the egg. Photo, Mike Irving & Richard Ross

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Pics on bigfin reef squids mating and spawning scene..

pics by Tony Wu

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The Racers

sexual maturity ~5 to 10 days....

Sexual maturity in manta rays depends on size rather than age: the males are ready to reproduce when they are about four metres in length and the females about 4.8 metres.

During the courting phase, the rays move rapidly in the water, with one or several males chasing a female for 20 to 30 minutes. Competition makes the males very aggressive as they vie for the same mate. One male will eventually nip the tip of either of the female's pectoral fins, severely impairing her swimming. He will then move to her ventral surface and inserts one of his claspers into her cloaca, thereby mating belly-to-belly; the male may hold onto the female's pectoral fin for several minutes after removing his clasper, after which both rays go their own way.

pics by Bo Pardau, Asian Divers Mag

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More pics on cuttlefish mating scene..

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Breeding of the Raspy river stingray Potamotrygon scobina

by Rayman from monsterfishkeepers.com

Potamotrygon scobina is one of the smaller freshwater stingrays, size ranging from 10" to 20" (25 - 50 cm) diskwidth depending on origin. The habitat of this species is from Manaus downstream in the Amazon and Pará and their tributaries. The origin of the small morph that I have breed is Rio Xingú and this variant reaches only 10" to 14" (25 - 35 cm) diskwidth (the rays from Xingu are now called orbignyi variant by scientist). These are very active rays and it is fantastic to observe them cruising through the tank.

This species prefers a water temperature in the range of 81 - 86°F (27 – 30°C) and is very sensitive against nitrite (NO2). If the nitrite level exceed 0.025 ppm these rays do not eat well. So a well cycled large biofilter is needed, I use Siporax as filter media. My breeding pair, (male 10.4" (26 cm) and female 12" (30 cm) diskwidth) houses in a 80" x 24" x 24" (200 x 60 x 60 cm) tank; water change is 40% per week. The tap water is treated with activated charcoal before use.

My water parameters are:

Temperature 81 - 86°F (27 – 30°C)

pH 7.6

NO3 < 30 ppm

hardness 180 ppm CaCO3

conductivity 460 µS/cm

P. scobina has a relative small mouth, so I cut larger food items in smaller pieces. My pair feeds on bloodworms, Canadian nightcrawler, fish, mussel, shrimp and krill. I feed the adult rays once per day. First food for new imported P. scobina should be live food as nightcrawler or fresh dead fish. My P. scobina only hunt very small fishes like cardinal tetra. Sometimes it takes some weeks until they accept a new kind of food.

If well fed these rays mature at an age of 18 months. For breeding attempts it is best to use a female that is larger than the male to avoid damages during the mating process. Mating and birth occurs mostly at night.

Mating season starts, the male bites the female

They swim together, the male bite the female during the whole mating process

They mate at the ground, male upside down.

Young female with injuries from the male. They were together for a long time and nothing happened, then overnight this. I seperate her immediately and she recovered.

Pregnant female, 5 weeks after mating the first movement of the embryo can be observed

Pregnancy last for 90–120 days, litter size is 1–4, the diskwidth of the pups is 2.8" to 4" (7–10 cm). During the pregnancy the female need more food than usual, because freshwater stingrays are matrotrophic vivipar, that means they are livebearer and the female provides additional nourishment to the embryos. This happens via secretion of so called “uterine milk” through trophonemata (long filaments from the uterus wall which secrete a nutritive fluid).

P. scobina give birth

Immediately after birth the male want to mate, bottom left a newborn pup

Female with pup

The day after birth I separate the pups in a smaller tank. This tank is in the same circulation system as the main tank (same filtration system), so the water conditions are exactly the same as in the main tank.

The pups start to feed 1-3 days after birth, I feed them blood worms 3 times per day. Most time of the day they are buried in the sand, at night they are more active.

Scobina pups feed on bloodworms

They grow with a rate of approximately 1 cm per month. One of my captive breed females reached sexuell maturity at a age of 18 months and a size of 10" (25 cm) diskwidth, one male matured with only 8" (20 cm) diskwidth.

Bunch of pups age six months

Mature captive breed scobina female two years old