NewScientist.com news service
Shaoni Bhattachar
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.
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.
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).
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).
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