原文：
Once a year, at the beginning of the Southern winter, a bay on the South coast of Australia becomes home to the only known mass spawning aggregation of cuttlefish in the world. Over a hundred thousand giant cuttlefish, the largest cuttlefish species in the world, gather together. The larger males can reach one metre in length and 10kg in weight. At the beginning of the aggregation, males can outnumber the females by eleven to one. With so many males vying for the females』 attention, it was thought that the strongest males would ultimately decide the mating pairs, with the females having little to say in the matter.
But when BBC researcher, Katrina Steele, got in contact with cuttlefish scientist, Dr Alexandra Schnell, she discovered that when it comes to cuttlefish mating, it takes two to tango. Dr Schnell explained that female cuttlefish ultimately influence which males get mating rights. One of the ways that a female achieves this is by sending a visual signal to ward off any males that she finds unappealing. The signal is a white horizontal stripe, which is displayed along the side of her body and can be flashed within the blink of an eye. The signal tells unwanted males that she is not receptive to their advances. However, when a more attractive suitor approaches she switches off the signal and cooperates in the coupling. This fascinating behaviour, discovered by Dr Schnell in 2015, was just the kind of story the Blue Planet II team were looking to film.
以上內容來自BBC官網。
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4tfgmTgfJHlJpvvMnRlq9pG/filming-the-giant-cuttlefish-aggregation
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