Fighters egged on by pheromones

摘要

Male squid are propelled into an immediate fighting frenzy by contact with squid eggs - a response, researchers say, to a pheromone identified on the eggs' surface. The protein, Loligo |3-MSP, is the first aggression pheromone from a marine animal to be characterized at the molecular level. Its similarity to proteins found in mammalian seminal fluids suggests that these may also have a role in sexual competition.