Argonauts are astounding! This ocean creature wasn’t on my radar screen until a female argonaut rode a warm current up to Southern California and was caught by squid fishermen who then contacted Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, which is where it now resides and where I first heard about it. Argonauts are common in tropical seas, but… [read more]
The octopus escape artist
The adjacent slightly blurry photo features an octopus that was caught on the Catalina Above and Below trip hosted by Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. Octopuses are often referred to as the most intelligent invertebrate and the octopus in the photo proved to be no exception. Upon being placed in the tank, it immediately curled up in… [read more]
Market squid up close and personal
Market squid or Loligo opalescence average about 12 inches in length as adults. Twelve is also the maximum number of months they typically live, sometimes even as few as nine months. Why so short? Only mother nature knows the answer to that question. Like most cephalopods, market squid are terminal spawners, this means they die… [read more]
Market squid galore
Check out all the market squid! I was lucky enough to have the chance to go on a boat trip in search of market squid with Larry Fukuhara, Programs Director at Cabrillo Aquarium and several Cabrillo staff members and volunteers. We left Redondo Beach at 6:00pm and headed straight for Point Vicente and the outskirts… [read more]
Octopus eggs
I had the chance to see octopus eggs and just had to share! The two-spotted octopus at Cabrillo Marine Aquarium recently laid her eggs. Somehow she created a sticky type of olive-green substance to adhere them to the glass. Check out the photo, the eggs look like slender white grapes and also hang like grapes… [read more]
Dumbo squid might be the dumbo octopus
I had to revisit the dumbo squid for two reasons. First, I realized the photo in the original post didn’t give a good view of the dumbo squid’s ear-like flaps that make it look like Disney’s famous flying elephant. So here is a better shot of the ear flaps, although they are slightly out of… [read more]
The dumbo squid
Well, I had hoped to be able to share all sorts of fascinating tidbits about the dumbo squid featured in the adjacent photo. But alas, in the midst of doing research on this cute little critter my computer acquired a nasty virus and now I can only tell you the obvious and a few minor… [read more]
Meet the market squid
Introducing the market squid, a very common cephalopod along California’s coast. And little did you know that market squid have mating orgies sometimes right along the coast in public! According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s website, market squid swarm into shallow waters, mate like crazy, then females lay delicate rod-shaped capsules each containing 180 to… [read more]