Sepia lay their spawn near the shore on submerged structures such as sea‑weed, reeds, brushwood, twigs, or stones, and fishermen exploit this by placing faggots in the water to attract them, upon which the sepia deposit a long, continuous, vine‑tendril‑like rope of spawn that is expelled with difficulty.

By Aristotle, from History of Animals

Key Arguments

  • He describes the typical near‑shore spawning substrate for sepia: "The sepia lays her spawn near to land in the neighbourhood of sea-weed or reeds or any off-sweepings such as brushwood, twigs, or stones;"
  • He reports the fishermen’s deliberate placement of faggots to provide spawning sites: "and fishermen place heaps of faggots here and there on purpose, and on to such heaps the female deposits a long continuous roe in shape like a vine tendril."
  • He emphasizes that the act of ejecting the spawn is strenuous, implying some mechanical difficulty in the process: "It lays or spirts out the spawn with an effort, as though there were difficulty in the process."

Source Quotes

The female octopus at times sits brooding over her eggs, and at other times squats in front of her hole, stretching out her tentacles on guard. The sepia lays her spawn near to land in the neighbourhood of sea-weed or reeds or any off-sweepings such as brushwood, twigs, or stones; and fishermen place heaps of faggots here and there on purpose, and on to such heaps the female deposits a long continuous roe in shape like a vine tendril. It lays or spirts out the spawn with an effort, as though there were difficulty in the process.
The sepia lays her spawn near to land in the neighbourhood of sea-weed or reeds or any off-sweepings such as brushwood, twigs, or stones; and fishermen place heaps of faggots here and there on purpose, and on to such heaps the female deposits a long continuous roe in shape like a vine tendril. It lays or spirts out the spawn with an effort, as though there were difficulty in the process. The female calamary spawns at sea; and it emits the spawn, as does the sepia, in the mass.

Key Concepts

  • The sepia lays her spawn near to land in the neighbourhood of sea-weed or reeds or any off-sweepings such as brushwood, twigs, or stones;
  • and fishermen place heaps of faggots here and there on purpose, and on to such heaps the female deposits a long continuous roe in shape like a vine tendril.
  • It lays or spirts out the spawn with an effort, as though there were difficulty in the process.

Context

Late in chapter 18: Aristotle links sepia spawning behaviour and preferred substrates to human fishing practices and notes the apparent effort involved in spawning.