It doesn't take a marine biologist to know that tropical waters aren't supposed to look like bean soup, or smell like rotted mulch. Deep sea tattoos pack more than ink. While humans may choose to tatoo our loved one's name on our biceps, giant squid seem to take a more direct approach. Norman found sperm packages embedded in the arms of a female giant squid, recently captured live during a commercial fishing trawl. It appears that male giant squids may inject sperm directly into the arms of their intended mate.
Scientists can only make educated guesses at how females access the sperm to fertilize the eggs.
It is possible that they may use their suckers or beak to break open the skin covering the stored sperm. The sperm may migrate to the eggs, stored in the ovaries, on hormonal or chemical cues. Or, the female's skin may degrade on spawning, releasing the embedded sperm stores. The captured female giant squid was not quite at breeding size, suggesting that she may be saving the sperm for later, when her ovaries would be fully developed. Giant squid, believed to grow to lengths of up to 80 feet, have never been seen alive in the wild, though they have been found dead, either washed ashore or in commercial fishing nets.