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Author Topic:   Deep sea squid takes care of its young.
Gary
Inactive Member


Message 1 of 11 (269692)
12-15-2005 2:37 PM


I think this is really neat so I decided to share it here. Check the link, there is another picture and two videos. You should definitely watch the videos.
Page has gone | New Scientist
quote:
A broody species of squid has been found to carry thousands of its eggs under its many arms. It is the first species of squid known to look after its clutch.
Usually squids simply drop their eggs on the sea floor and leave them to survive on their own, although some species of octopus are known to guard their clutch. But scientists captured on film the parental care lavished by Gonatus onyx on its eggs.
Biologist Brad Seibel, now at the University of Rhode Island, US, suspected that Gonatus onyx might do more than most for its offspring when in 1995 he and colleagues dredged up both an adult and a separate egg sac in the same net while probing the seas.
A year later, he captured another adult and many baby squids in the same net, which led him and colleagues to hypothesise that the squid might be brooding its eggs until hatching. “But without direct observations, there were many that were sceptical,” he told New Scientist.
Working with Bruce Robison and Steven Haddock at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California, US, Seibel has now captured images of the protective parent by delving to depths of 2500 metres in a submersible.
You can view a video of the squid hatching its young by clicking here (mpg format, 6MB), and see the squid with its cumbersome egg sac fleeing from the submersible here (mpg format, 6MB).
Talon-like hooks
Over five years of observations, the team spotted five female adults carrying sacs of 2000 to 3000 eggs. The shallowest depths at which they found the brooding mothers was at about 1500 metres, and the deepest at about 2500 metres.
The adults held the egg sac using two rows of talon-like hooks on the underside of three of their four pairs of arms. The sac is formed of two thin membranes which form a hollow tube, open at both ends. The squid wave their arms to flush water through the sac - probably to aerate the eggs.
Previously, it had been thought that squid would be incapable of caring for their eggs as the health of most species deteriorates rapidly after laying eggs. Most adult squid become extremely gelatinous as their muscles degenerate after egg-laying and they die shortly afterwards.
But this species appeared “fairly healthy” after egg laying, notes Seibel. Even so the mother weakens as the eggs develop, as she does not feed while holding her progeny. The team believes the adult carries her eggs around in this way for between six to nine months before they hatch, by which time she is exhausted.
Remote environment
Seibel says the large sacs are very cumbersome for the adult: “We think that most of the time they are just hovering in a horizontal position.”
However, he notes that Gonatus onyx is usually a shallow water creature. “What is enlightening for me is that this is a shallow living squid that migrates to these enormous depths where it finishes its life cycle,” says Seibel.
Brooding eggs is more common in deep rather than shallow waters. For example, there are some crustaceans and a few fish species that also do this, he says. This may be because there are fewer predators to attack the adult while it is encumbered with the sac.
“The deep sea is often thought of as a remote environment separated from the world in which we live. There are ideas of storing waste there so it won’t come back to haunt us,” says Seibel. He says the brooding squid species illustrates the connection between life in the deep sea and shallower waters.
Journal reference: Nature (vol 438, p 929)

Replies to this message:
 Message 2 by MangyTiger, posted 12-15-2005 9:41 PM Gary has not replied
 Message 3 by Nighttrain, posted 12-16-2005 3:16 AM Gary has not replied
 Message 5 by Jazzns, posted 12-16-2005 8:35 AM Gary has not replied

  
MangyTiger
Member (Idle past 6354 days)
Posts: 989
From: Leicester, UK
Joined: 07-30-2004


Message 2 of 11 (269820)
12-15-2005 9:41 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by Gary
12-15-2005 2:37 PM


Working with Bruce Robison and Steven Haddock
Something fishy in this story methinks

I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then

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 Message 1 by Gary, posted 12-15-2005 2:37 PM Gary has not replied

  
Nighttrain
Member (Idle past 3994 days)
Posts: 1512
From: brisbane,australia
Joined: 06-08-2004


Message 3 of 11 (269899)
12-16-2005 3:16 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by Gary
12-15-2005 2:37 PM


Squid antics
Fascinating, Gary. I have dived into a school(?) of squid and they appear highly intelligent. While they usually take off in straight lines, they can circle if you remain still. I`ve seen them mating in shallow water, and capturing fish larger than their body.
Another oddity is the salp. You see this large tube undulating in front of you and it looks like a giant jellyfish, transparent and turning. When you touch it, the colony breaks up and you are surrounded by mini-salps. Leave them alone and they re-group into the tube formation again.

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 Message 1 by Gary, posted 12-15-2005 2:37 PM Gary has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 4 by cavediver, posted 12-16-2005 8:30 AM Nighttrain has replied

  
cavediver
Member (Idle past 3644 days)
Posts: 4129
From: UK
Joined: 06-16-2005


Message 4 of 11 (269935)
12-16-2005 8:30 AM
Reply to: Message 3 by Nighttrain
12-16-2005 3:16 AM


Re: Squid antics
Diving with squid, octopi, and - my favourite - cuttlefish, has formed some of my most wonderful diving experiences. You don't need to get off the planet to meet intelligent aliens!

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 Message 3 by Nighttrain, posted 12-16-2005 3:16 AM Nighttrain has replied

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 Message 8 by Nighttrain, posted 12-16-2005 5:40 PM cavediver has replied

  
Jazzns
Member (Idle past 3912 days)
Posts: 2657
From: A Better America
Joined: 07-23-2004


Message 5 of 11 (269939)
12-16-2005 8:35 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by Gary
12-15-2005 2:37 PM


Hrm???
Is it just me or does that photo look doctored?

No smoking signs by gas stations. No religion in the public square. The government should keep us from being engulfed in flames on earth, and that is pretty much it. -- Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by Gary, posted 12-15-2005 2:37 PM Gary has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 6 by pink sasquatch, posted 12-16-2005 12:19 PM Jazzns has replied

  
pink sasquatch
Member (Idle past 6023 days)
Posts: 1567
Joined: 06-10-2004


Message 6 of 11 (270019)
12-16-2005 12:19 PM
Reply to: Message 5 by Jazzns
12-16-2005 8:35 AM


Re: Hrm???
If they doctored it, then they doctored every frame of the videos as well, since they look the same.
Remember - the photo was taken 2500m deep with only the light from the submersible to illuminate the subject; maybe that's why it looks odd to you?

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Jazzns
Member (Idle past 3912 days)
Posts: 2657
From: A Better America
Joined: 07-23-2004


Message 7 of 11 (270044)
12-16-2005 1:26 PM
Reply to: Message 6 by pink sasquatch
12-16-2005 12:19 PM


Re: Hrm???
Didn't notice a video. I'll check it out when I get home. My analysis was purly superficial. It just looked wierd and the squid looked out of frame just looking that the photo linked in this forum. I am perfectly willing to be incorrect. =)

No smoking signs by gas stations. No religion in the public square. The government should keep us from being engulfed in flames on earth, and that is pretty much it. -- Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

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 Message 6 by pink sasquatch, posted 12-16-2005 12:19 PM pink sasquatch has not replied

  
Nighttrain
Member (Idle past 3994 days)
Posts: 1512
From: brisbane,australia
Joined: 06-08-2004


Message 8 of 11 (270125)
12-16-2005 5:40 PM
Reply to: Message 4 by cavediver
12-16-2005 8:30 AM


Re: Squid antics
Cleaner fish are my favs, CD. I nearly drown on occasion at their bossy antics.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 4 by cavediver, posted 12-16-2005 8:30 AM cavediver has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 9 by cavediver, posted 12-18-2005 11:05 AM Nighttrain has replied

  
cavediver
Member (Idle past 3644 days)
Posts: 4129
From: UK
Joined: 06-16-2005


Message 9 of 11 (270482)
12-18-2005 11:05 AM
Reply to: Message 8 by Nighttrain
12-16-2005 5:40 PM


Re: Squid antics
Cleaner fish are my favs, CD. I nearly drown on occasion at their bossy antics.
Don't, you're giving me the need to be wet again I haven't done warm pretty fish diving in so long... all of my regular partners are strictly deep, dark and dangerous. Bunch of Neanderthals
And I've never done the Barrier

This message is a reply to:
 Message 8 by Nighttrain, posted 12-16-2005 5:40 PM Nighttrain has replied

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Nighttrain
Member (Idle past 3994 days)
Posts: 1512
From: brisbane,australia
Joined: 06-08-2004


Message 10 of 11 (270587)
12-18-2005 6:33 PM
Reply to: Message 9 by cavediver
12-18-2005 11:05 AM


Re: Squid antics
Have you run across luminous shrimp in your cave dives? I discovered a new species of luminous shrimp on the ceilings of dry mine tunnels. By the time I notified specialists and we organised a trip, the local council had blown the mine for safety reasons.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 9 by cavediver, posted 12-18-2005 11:05 AM cavediver has not replied

  
ReverendDG
Member (Idle past 4111 days)
Posts: 1119
From: Topeka,kansas
Joined: 06-06-2005


Message 11 of 11 (274901)
01-02-2006 1:40 AM


wow thats cool
i never thought squid were that advanced, thanks for that one gary

  
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