Ktuvok reproduction - can a female cheat?

[Mornche Geddick]

The tritonids (both ktuvoks and their relatives) deliver not a sea of sperm but a single large sperm packet-- in effect a mass of protein which takes more than a year to develop, and which weighs more than the newborn offspring itself.

And again

the male deposits a large sperm packet, which the female takes up, using it both to fertilize her egg and to nourish the fetus.

Given the size of the protein mass it looks as though a ktuvok female can mate only once every season. There won't be any room in her uterus for another sperm packet - a neat way for a male to avoid being cuckolded.

Can the female get around this? For example, could she drop the sperm packet and burst it?

[zompist]

In general, neither party would want to cheat. Mating is voluntary-- anatomically, neither party can force the other. And one or both of the ktuvoks is on foreign ground, always an uncomfortable thing for a ktuvok. Any tricks would almost certainly lead to immediate violence.

But of course history is long, and ktuvoks can have their own dramas. A female might induce the male to drop his sperm packet, and then refuse to take it up-- a highly aggressive act since he's just wasted a year of effort, and a dangerous one since he cannot be poor or inconsiderable if he developed it at all.

[BGMan]

I've been wondering what this "sperm packet" is. Does the male ktuvok, uh, jack off on it every so often whenever the urge hits, and adds it to the mass? It sounds like a "sperm packet" would be rather gross and hard to hold. It also sounds like a rather un-fun way to reproduce. (Maybe that's why the ktuvoks have such bad attitudes?)

[zompist]

It doesn't sound fun to you, but you're a primate-- a highly social animal.

'Sperm packet' is a biological term; on earth it's restricted to invertebrates. Here's a page describing an octopod that uses sperm packets:

http://www.tolweb.org/Cirrata

There's one report of a Cadhinorian soldier who interrupted a sexual encounter and made off with the sperm packet. He reported that though it was very soft, it was enclosed in a type of skin and was less lisutes than expected.

[Legros]

But of course history is long, and ktuvoks can have their own dramas. A female might induce the male to drop his sperm packet, and then refuse to take it up-- a highly aggressive act since he's just wasted a year of effort, and a dangerous one since he cannot be poor or inconsiderable if he developed it at all.

I guess that natural selection quickly eliminates ktuvok females with such a mindset: they run a high risk of being killed. Ktuvok females with an instinctive compulsion to pick up the sperm packet are more likely to survive and reproduce.

[Mornche Geddick]

But of course history is long, and ktuvoks can have their own dramas. A female might induce the male to drop his sperm packet, and then refuse to take it up-- a highly aggressive act since he's just wasted a year of effort, and a dangerous one since he cannot be poor or inconsiderable if he developed it at all.

I guess that natural selection quickly eliminates ktuvok females with such a mindset: they run a high risk of being killed. Ktuvok females with an instinctive compulsion to pick up the sperm packet are more likely to survive and reproduce.

Unless she's part of a coalition that is plotting to destroy him, in which case she stands a chance of getting a share of his estate in the event of victory.

[Legros]

But of course history is long, and ktuvoks can have their own dramas. A female might induce the male to drop his sperm packet, and then refuse to take it up-- a highly aggressive act since he's just wasted a year of effort, and a dangerous one since he cannot be poor or inconsiderable if he developed it at all.

I guess that natural selection quickly eliminates ktuvok females with such a mindset: they run a high risk of being killed. Ktuvok females with an instinctive compulsion to pick up the sperm packet are more likely to survive and reproduce.

Unless she's part of a coalition that is plotting to destroy him, in which case she stands a chance of getting a share of his estate in the event of victory.

What makes you think that a ktuvok is weaker when he has dropped his sperm packet?

[Mornche Geddick]

What makes you think that a ktuvok is weaker when he has dropped his sperm packet?

Depends how much it takes out of him to make it - or deliver it. If it develops inside his abdominal cavity, he'd have to go into labour.