I read a few posts that mentioned that viable seeds will sink and non-viable seeds will float.  I just went out and collected some of my ripe figs that fell off and split, about 8 figs were on the ground around my hardy chicago fig pots they were very soft, over ripe.  

I mushed them up in a plastic bin filled with water and I noticed that about half the seeds floated but the other half sank to the bottom of the bin.  I poured off the water and floating seeds and put the seeds that sank into a glass Pyrex measuring cup.  Here is a picture of the seeds.  

 
 
Does anyone know what this means, did I do something wrong that made them sink?  I guess I should just plant them and see what happens. :)  

Thanks for any insight into this.

Do you have the fig wasp?? This is the only way to have a pollenated seed

My pollinated seeds sink too. Put them in a moist paper towel, place in a dish and cover with Saran Wrap . In a warm spot in about 2 weeks you should see the sprouts if the seeds were pollinated.

I do have lots of tiny black wasps in my figs. But I don't think they are fig wasps. Even if they were, I thought they have to visit a male Capri fig 1st then bring the pollen into a female fig.

I don't know why these sunk. I remember I put seeds in water before and all of them floated and they were hollow inside.

@Greenfig Thanks I will try that method with the paper towel.

Hi Figgysid1,
This is just normal for me. Check my thread on pollination myth kill.
The theory as it that those seeds are generated per parthenocarpy. The egg did duplicate its genes to generate a complete seed.
I have 4 growing, 1 I seeded in a pot ( lost the 10 others) and 3 that volunteered in the garden just this year. Two stayed small, but the third is in between of 1' and 2' of height.
The theory as it, that those seedlings could all be smyrna type because of lack of pollination ... Time will tell. Winter may interfere though ...

One thing is sure, old people in a non-wasp zone I know, often referred to those seedlings as "worthless mâle figs", for the reason that most/?all? of those trees would never bear fruits for them.
Oh well, I want to know/test by myself ... If I have patience. I know it takes an apple seedling at least 5 seasons to fruit ... I'm not sure that I'll wait that time for a fig tree when my
good documented fig trees sucker as they do !
My higher volunteer is under my 'healthy longue d'aout" and so far the leaves do almost match the ones of the mother ...

@ Jdsfrance: Thanks for the link to your post.  I am not sure if the wasps, even if they are the wrong type could have brought some mulberry pollen or other pollen into the figs and it could have tricked the fig into think it was pollinated like is mentioned in this post on apomixis.  

http://www.figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/use-of-induced-apomixis-in-the-breeding-of-figs-7216971


I hope that if they sprout they will be all male capri figs since that is what I am looking for, a persistent male capri fig.

I have read a few topics that mention the desire for people in colder northern zones to have a cold hardy, mount etna type, persistent male capri for a breeding program and possibly crossing it with desert king to make the ultimate cold hardy fig.

 I think it may be worth the effort, just for the irony, of doing a fig breeding program for the world's most cold hardy fig variety "In Hawaii". :) 

Update today.  I got 3 seedlings to sprout from those seeds so far.  I did not plant them well, I just tossed them into some pots.  Here they are 3 hardy chicago seedlings.

I am not sure what this means or what they will turn into but I will let them grow a bit then up-pot them.    


   

Hey Sid, apparently the following species have their pollinator wasp in Hawaii: F. religiosa, F. benghalensis, F. microcarpa, and F cf. platypoda. So it seems like you could have either interspecific hybrid or apomictic seeds, that is pretty cool either way and a real adventure!

@hoosierbanana: That's probably most likely.

Another type of fig wasp is bringing pollen into these and pollinating them. So far looks like it's just the hardy chicago that is getting pollinated. The fruits look much darker black, and deep red on the inside like I just posted in "hardy chicago hawaii". Also they taste completely different. I can see why people would prefer pollinated figs, darker color sweeter richer taste.

I think it has happened before since a ficus pumila X carica hybrid was found by chance in a botanical garden I think.

So a wasp from one of the ficus would have had to go into the wrong fig and pollinate it.

This happening with HC could be the key to a fig mystery. If they are apomictic it could give a clue as to whether Etna figs are all originally from the same seedling (lots of variation) or very similar seedlings from a wild population (not as much variation compared to apomictic seeds of other varieties).

I think that the theory is that (depending on the seed kind), viable seeds are 'full & heavy', and tend to sink in water (e.g., tomatoes).
I use this method to 'clean' (both seeds & chaff off) using a tall clear container by repetitively draining the top floating parts.

Some other (light/fluffy) seed-kinds tend to always float (e.g., marigold).