Sperm whale groups 'may corral deep squid'

Sperm whales may team up and hunt collaboratively, scientists have suggested.A US research team used hi-tech tags to glimpse some of the giant marine mammals' remarkable hunting behaviour. This tracking showed how the whales travelled together in groups, but when they hunted, each whale "varied its role" within the group. The research team announced the findings at the Ocean Sciences meeting in Portland, Oregon. Professor Bruce Mate from the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Oregon led the study. It may be that each individual takes it in turns to do the most physiologically demanding task Professor Bruce Mate, Hatfield Marine Science Center, "The unique thing about this study is this new piece of equipment," he explained. "We have [a tag with] GPS precision for the whales' movements and a time and depth record of their dives. "And, for the first time, we have tagged several animals within the same group." Professor Mate showed tracking evidence of the whales sticking closely together over several months - swimming around the Gulf of Mexico. But as the huge mammals made their dives - hunting squid at depths reaching more than 1,000m - their behaviour varied with each dive. "We can see that they're actually changing their role over time," he said. "And we're speculating that the animals are herding a ball of squid." He said that some whales appeared to guard the bottom of this "bait ball", preventing the prey from sinking to unreachable depths, while other animals in the group took advantage of the centre of the ball. "It may be that each individual takes it in turns to do the most physiologically demanding task - the deep dive," he said. Professor Hal Whitehead, a researcher from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada, who studies whales, was impressed by the data, but said the suggestion that whales might be herding a ball of squid may be a little "far-fetched". However, Dr Mate pointed out that previous research had shown this type of herding behaviour in dolphins. In that case, scientists were able to capture footage of the dolphins herding a ball of fish, and appearing to take turns to dive through the ball for a mouthful. Dr Mate explained that, with sperm whales, which dive to great depths, it was far more difficult to capture the behaviour. "Our next step will be to image the squid at the same time as tracking the whales," he said. "And to tag more members of the same group so that we can track their movements."By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC News, Portland

Giant Squid Invading Newport Beach, California

Giant squid weighing up to 60 pounds have invaded the California waters off Newport Beach and are being caught by sport fishermen by the hundreds. The squid showed up last week and anglers started booking twilight fishing trips over the weekend to catch them. The animals weigh between 20 and 40 pounds, but a few fishermen have reeled in 60-pound creatures. The Humboldt squid is also called the jumbo squid or jumbo flying squid and squirts ink to protect itself. They can grow up to 100 pounds and 6 feet long and follow food sources. The squid have also recently been spotted off San Diego, Oregon and Washington. Robert Woodbury with Newport Landing Sportfishing says anglers in Orange County have caught about 400 of the big squid since Friday night.

Giant squid invasion threatens Calif. rockfish

Like a horror show picture, giant squid seem to be invading the coast. From Fort Bragg to Monterey, giant Humboldt squid have shown up in massive numbers.

Every year, we see more giant cephalopods. The scary fact is that the squid are caught near the main habitat for deep-water rockfish.

"We have boated 5,500 squid this year, and the average is 40 pounds," reported Rick Powers, aboard the New Sea Angler in Bodega Bay.

Powers has seen squid up to 70 pounds this year, and he agrees that the number and size of squid are increasing. He has targeted the squid outside the Cordell Banks, which are a hotbed for protected rockfish. Most fishermen are worried that the rockfish will fall prey to the rapidly growing squid population.

In Half Moon Bay, Tom Mattusch, who runs the charter boat Huli Cat, encountered scary numbers of squid while on an experimental rockfish trip with the California Department of Fish and Game. While Mattusch fished for Chili Pepper rockfish, the squid tore the rockfish off the hooks so fast that the boat had to move from spot to spot to avoid them.

In past years, encounters with giant squid in these areas were almost nonexistent.

Recently, in Monterey Bay, squid have been caught along canyon edges in 1,000 feet of water.

Giant squid can be eaten if handled correctly, iced, cleaned and cooked properly, and most people enjoy them. There is no limit on giant squid, and there does not seem to be any worry at this point about overfishing. Some anglers hope a commercial fishery might be established to help reduce the numbers of squid.

"I will be running squid trips after the first of the year," reported "Captain Jimmy" Rubin from the Becky Ann.

On a happier note, though, crabs and sand dabs are still being caught.

Rubin has loaded up on Dungeness crabs. His most recent trip yielded 28 nice crabs for his passengers.

Meanwhile, Ken Stagnaro and the Velocity are running sand dab and whale-watching trips.

Gray whales are starting their southbound migration and are passing through the bay now. Trips for gray whales will last into May.

Finally, remember to get your new fishing licenses for 2010.

Mike Baxter has fished in the Monterey Bay Area since he was a boy and has been a licensed charter boat captain for more than 15 years. Contact him at captmikebaxter@yahoo.com.

Squid Invasions Signal Changes in the Pacific Ocean

When large numbers of jumbo squid first showed up in California's Monterey Bay in 1997, scientists weren't sure what had brought the cephalopod that far north. An unusually strong El Niño event had warmed the eastern Pacific. But the squid, dubbed el diablo rojo – the red devil – in its native waters off the coast of Mexico, didn't typically venture farther north than Baja California.

nd indeed, within two years, the Humboldtsquid – Dosidicus gigas – had disappeared from central California waters.

But in 2002 – another El Niño year – they reappeared. This time, they took up permanent residence and pushed even farther north – past Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, until, by 2004, fishermen near Sitka, Alaska, were hauling them in.

U.S. scientists net giant squid in Gulf of Mexico

U.S. scientists in the Gulf of Mexico unexpectedly netted a 19.5-foot (5.9-meter) giant squid off the coast of Louisiana, the Interior Department said on Monday, showing how little is known about life in the deep waters of the Gulf.Not since 1954, when a giant squid was found floating dead off the Mississippi Delta, has the rare species been spotted in the Gulf of Mexico.The squid, weighing in at 103 pounds (46.7 kg), was caught July 30 in a trawl net more than 1,500 feet underwater as it was pulled by a research vessel.The giant squid, which did not survive the rapid change in water depth when brought to the surface, was preserved and sent to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History for further study.Scientists aboard -- from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service -- were participating in a pilot study on the diets of sperm whales."As the trawl net rose out of the water, I could see that we had something big in there ... really big," Anthony Martinez, a marine mammal scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the chief scientist on the research cruise, said in a statement.Remnants of giant squid have been found in the stomachs of its predators in the waters of the Gulf, Caribbean and Florida Keys so scientists were aware of their presence in the Gulf.The squid discovered by the researchers is significant because the species are difficult to catch, leaving much to be learned about them.Michael Vecchione, director of NOAA's Fisheries Service's National Systematics Laboratory, the squid was an important addition to the worldwide study of squids."This find illustrates how little we know about what is swimming around in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico," he said.Giant squid, which can be 40 feet long, are usually found in deep-water fisheries, such as off Spain and New Zealand."This is the first time one has actually been captured during scientific research in the Gulf of Mexico," he said.The joint NOAA-MMS pilot study responsible for the find is part of a two-year, $550,000 study to determine the abundance and diversity of the type of fish and squid that sperm whales seek as prey.

Ink found in Jurassic-era squid

The specimen is now in the British Geological Survey collection Palaeontologists have drawn with ink extracted from a preserved fossilised squid uncovered during a dig in Trowbridge, Wiltshire. The fossil, thought to be 150 million years old, was found when a rock was cracked open, revealing the one-inch-long black ink sac. A picture of the creature and its Latin name was drawn using its ink. Dr Phil Wilby of the British Geological Survey said it was an ancient creature similar to the modern-day squid. "The structure is similar to ink from a modern squid so we can write with it," he said. 'Medusa effect'The find was made at a site which was first excavated in Victorian times where thousands of Jurassic fossils with preserved soft tissues were found. Dr Wilby, who led the excavation, said: "We think that these creatures were swimming around during the Jurassic period and were turned to stone soon after death. It's called the Medusa effect." It is difficult to imagine how you can have something as soft and sloppy as an ink sac inside a rock that is 150 million years old Dr Phil Wilby Experts believe one possibility is that thousands of the creatures congregated in the area to mate before being poisoned by algae in the water. Remains of a different species of squid have also been found, suggesting the carcasses attracted predators to feed on them and they in turn also died. Dr Wilby said: "They can be dissected as if they are living animals, you can see the muscle fibres and cells. "It is difficult to imagine how you can have something as soft and sloppy as an ink sac fossilised in three dimension, still black, and inside a rock that is 150 million years old." The specimen is now in the British Geological Survey collection in Nottingham. Part of the ink sac has been sent to Yale University in America for more in-depth chemical analysis. BBC

Researcher Sheds Light On 'Man-eating' Squid

Researcher Sheds Light On 'Man-eating' Squid; Finds Them Timid, Non-threateningRecent news reports about scuba divers off San Diego being menaced by large numbers of Humboldt's or jumbo squid have raised the ire of University of Rhode Island biologist Brad Seibel. As a leading expert on the species who has dived with them several times, he calls the reports "alarmist" and says the squid's man-eating reputation is seriously overblown.For years Seibel has heard stories claiming that Humboldt squid will devour a dog in minutes and could kill or maim unsuspecting divers."Private dive companies in Mexico play up this myth by insisting that their customers wear body armor or dive in cages while diving in waters where the squid are found. Many also encourage the squid's aggressive behavior by chumming the waters. I didn't believe the hype, but there was still some doubt in my mind, so I was a little nervous getting into the water with them for the first time," Seibel said.Scuba diving at night in the surface waters of the Gulf of California in 2007, Seibel scanned the depths with his flashlight and saw the shadows of Humboldt squid far in the distance. After he got up his nerve, he turned off the light. When he turned it back on again 30 seconds later, he was surrounded by what seemed like hundreds of the squid, many just five or six feet away from him. Most were in the 3-4 foot size range, while larger ones were sometimes visible in deeper waters. But the light appeared to frighten them, and they immediately dashed off to the periphery.The URI researcher's dive was more than just a personal test. It was part of a scientific examination of the species some call "red devil" to learn more about their physiology, feeding behavior and swimming abilities.Humboldt squid feed in surface waters at night, then retreat to great depths during daylight hours. "They spend the day 300 meters deep where oxygen levels are very low," Seibel said. "We wanted to know how they deal with so little oxygen."Seibel said that while the squid are strong swimmers with a parrot-like beak that could inflict injury, man-eaters they are not. Unlike some large sharks that feed on large fish and marine mammals, jumbo squid use their numerous small, toothed suckers on their arms and tentacles to feed on small fish and plankton that are no more than a few centimeters in length.The highlight of Seibel's research cruise with colleagues from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute was diving with the impressive animals. Other divers participating were Lloyd Trueblood of URI, Steve Haddock of MBARI, and Alison Sweeney of the University of California, Santa Barbara.Seibel was surprised by the large number of squid he encountered, which made it easy to imagine how they could be potentially dangerous to anything swimming with them. Their large numbers also made Seibel somewhat pleased that they appeared frightened of his dive light. Yet he said the animals were also curious about other lights, like reflections off his metal equipment or a glow-in-the-dark tool that one squid briefly attacked."Based on the stories I had heard, I was expecting them to be very aggressive, so I was surprised at how timid they were. As soon as we turned on the lights, they were gone," he said. "I didn't get the sense that they saw the entire diver as a food item, but they were definitely going after pieces of our equipment."According to Seibel, there have been many active discussions among biologists and the dive community about the safety of diving with Humboldt squid. As a result of his experience, the URI scientist is preparing a formal report with his recommendations for safely diving with the squid, including suggestions to always carry a back-up dive light and to be tethered to a boat. Any time humans enter the habitat of a large animal, there is potential for dangerous interactions, he said, so divers should use caution."However, I want to spread the word that they aren't the aggressive man-eaters as they have been portrayed," Seibel said.University of Rhode Island

Humboldt Squid

San Diego....An earthquake wasn't the only shock San Diego residents felt Saturday morning when dozens of dazed Humboldt squid washed up on La Jolla's sandy shores.The sea creatures measured up to four feet long and weighed around 40 pounds, appeared on the beach around 8:30 a.m. Pacific time — about an hour after a magnitude 4.0 earthquake shook the San Diego suburb.The earthquake was centered about 19 miles out to sea. It's still unclear whether it was the earthquake or the something lese that drove the huge Humboldt squid onto the beach.A spokesman for Scripps Institution of Oceanography said at this point they do not see a connection between the squid and the earthquake, but plan to look into it. The La Jolla Light's website reports that divers, Cynthia Velazquez and Roger Uzun of San Diego, armed with bright floodlights and a video camera, went searching for squid about 8:30 p.m. in 30-foot-deep water off La Jolla Shores on July 10. "They were already there waiting for us," said Velazquez, a veteran diver with extensive experience locally and in Mexico's Sea of Cortez. "At first there were about four of them, 4- to 5-feet long, and later there were probably like 10. They were very curious. They came right up to us: inches away from our faces," writes newspaper La Jolla Light.

The cephalopods can hear you

Do Bigfin reef squid listen out for predatory whales?Octopus and squid can hear.The discovery resolves a century-long debate over whether cephalopods, the group of sea creatures that includes octopus, squid, cuttlefish and nautiluses, can hear sounds underwater. Compared to fish, octopus and squid do not appear to hear particularly well. But the fact they can hear raises the possibility that these intelligent animals may use sound to catch prey, communicate with one another or listen out for predators. The question of whether cephalopods can perceive sound has been controversial since the early 20th Century. Some experiments suggested that blind octopus seemed able to locate the sounds produced by boats or by tapping on the outside of a tank. But most cephalopods lack a gas-filled chamber, such as the swim bladders that fish can use to hear. That suggested they could not detect the pressure wave component of sound. However, sensory physiologist Hong Young Yan of the Taiwan National Academy of Science in Taipei, Taiwan suspected that octopus and squid might use another organ called the statocyst to register sound.An octopus's hearing is tuned to life on the seafloor The statocyst is a sac-like structure containing a mineralised mass and sensitive hairs. Fish also use it to detect sounds, and in previous research, Yan showed that prawns can use their statocysts to hear. "So we extended our work from prawns to cephalopods," says Yan. Yan's team tested the auditory capabilities of two species, the Common octopus Octopus vulgaris and the squid Sepioteuthis lessoniana, often called the Bigfin reef squid. They discovered that the octopus can hear sounds between 400Hz and 1000Hz. The squid can hear an wider range of sound from 400Hz to 1500Hz, they report in Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A. "That indicates that squid have a better hearing capability than the octopus," says Yan. "Interestingly though, both species hear best at a frequency of 600Hz." Yan's team had to overcome particular technical challenges to investigate the cephalopods' hearing ability. The usual way to prove that an organism can hear is to measure how its nervous system electrically responds to sound. But that can involve directly attaching electrodes to exposed nerves, an invasive procedure that could harm delicate cephalopods. So Yan invented a non-invasive method, which involves placing electrodes on an animal's body to measure the electrical activity in its brain. In this way, he could measure within just a couple of hours whether the brain of an octopus or squid responds to sound. Avoiding being eatenThe discovery could open up a new understanding of cephalopod behaviour. "The key question which I would like to investigate is what kind of sounds are they listening to?" says Yan. "Perhaps they listen to sound to evade predators and can eavesdrop to sounds made by their prey. Or, perhaps they even could make sounds to communicate among themselves." For example, because octopus or squid do not possess gas-filled chambers within their bodies, they cannot amplify sounds, limiting their hearing ability. But they can hear as well as invertebrates such as prawns, although less well than many species of fish and the toothed whales which often eat them.A Bigfin reef squid undergoes a non-invasive hearing test "Squid are heavily preyed upon by toothed whales including dolphins. So perhaps their hearing would aid them to avoid the pinging sounds made by dolphins," says Yan. He says the different abilities of the octopus and squid also reflect the environment they live in. The common octopus dwells on the seabed, which is covered by large rocks, boulders, coral reef and other features. In water, sounds above 1000Hz have a wavelength less than 1.5m. Such sound waves cannot in turn pass objects greater than 1.5m in size, and they get deflected, which could explain why the octopus doesn't need to hear them. Squid live in the open water where there are fewer obstacles, and therefore sounds pass uninterrupted over a greater frequency range.

Matt Walker Editor, Earth News

Bizarre Reproductive Techniques Discovered For Deep-ocean Squid

Males that produce sperm packages that can penetrate deep into the skin. Females with bellies full of stored sperm. Males that seriously injure the females during mating. This is just a selection of the bizarre reproductive techniques that marine biologist Henk-Jan Hoving has discovered with different species of deep-ocean squid.

He will be awarded a PhD by the University of Groningen (Netherlands) on 19 December 2008.
‘Reproducing in the deep ocean is a real challenge’, says Hoving. The deep ocean is unbelievably huge – 80 percent of the seafloor lies at depths of two kilometres or more. It’s not easy to find a partner in that gigantic, pitch-black environment. So, once you find one, you have to seize the moment. Squids that live in the deep ocean have developed a wide range of fascinating reproductive techniques to this end.
Deep cuts
Hoving investigated the reproductive techniques of no fewer than ten different squids and related cuttlefish – from the twelve-metre long giant squid to a mini-squid of no more than twenty-five millimetres in length. Along the way he made a number of remarkable discoveries. Hoving: ‘Reproduction is no fun if you’re a squid. With one species, the Taningia danae, I discovered that the males give the females cuts of at least 5 centimetres deep in their necks with their beaks or hooks – they don’t have suction pads. They then insert their packets of sperm, also called spermatophores, into the cuts.’
Through the skin
With a different species, the Moroteuthis ingens, the spermatophores are introduced in a more peaceful way. ‘With this species the spermatophores penetrate the skin independently. They probably do that with the help of an enzyme-like substance that dissolves tissue.’ Hoving is the first to be able to prove that these sperm packets are able to penetrate the skin under their own steam. He discovered this when he experimentally placed spermatophores on the skin of just-caught individuals. His results are supported by an incident in Japan, where someone had to have an operation after eating squid to remove a spermatophore that lodged in his throat.
Sperm in reserve
When studying the mini-squid Heteroteuthis dispar, Hoving also made an extraordinary discovery. For the first time he found a squid that probably fertilizes its eggs internally. ‘The females have a pouch for storing sperm that is directly linked to the belly and the oviducts. This indicates that fertilization takes place within the body and not outside - which is more common for squid.’ Males fill the female’s pouch with a great deal of sperm. About three percent of the body weight of a female who has mated consists of stored sperm. This has a number of advantages. The females, who produce eggs over a long period, thus have a steady supply ‘in reserve’ which they can make use of. Another advantage is that when the pouch is full, no sperm from other males will fit.
Female characteristics
Hoving was also the first to discover male squid with female characteristics. ‘Usually, squid have separate sexes. There are no hermaphrodites, as with snails. But with one species, Ancistrocheirus lesueurii, some of the males turned out to have small glands that in females are involved in egg production. They also had significantly longer bodies than “normal” males.’ Hoving cannot explain this phenomenon. ‘It’s possible that it’s the result of hormones and hormone-like substances that end up in the surface water as a result of human action – for example use of the pill – and then sink down to the deep ocean. However, it may also be an alternative reproductive strategy and a way of getting closer to the females.’
Vulnerable ecosystem
Hoving’s research has produced a wealth of information about deep-ocean squid. ‘Previously, there was little known about these organisms. That was because they were very difficult to study. The deep ocean is very inaccessible. Diving to such depths is only possible with the help of advanced technology.’
In order to gain an understanding of the reproductive habits of squid he had to use dead individuals, which he got hold of in many inventive ways. ‘For example, I’ve joined scientific expeditions but have also used examples that were found in the 1960s and 1970s in the stomachs of commercially caught sperm whales.’ Hoving hopes that his research will contribute to sustainable exploitation of the deep ocean. ‘Fishing is taking place at deeper and deeper depths. The deep ocean is a very vulnerable ecosystem, however. We desperately need to learn more about this ecosystem.’
Adapted from materials provided by University of Groningen.

Ocean Acidification From Carbon Dioxide Emissions Will Cause Physiological Impairment To Jumbo Squid

The elevated carbon dioxide levels expected to be found in the world's oceans by 2100 will likely lead to physiological impairments of jumbo (or Humboldt) squid, according to research by two University of Rhode Island scientists.

The results of a study by Brad Seibel, URI assistant professor of biological sciences, and Rui Rosa, a former URI post-doctoral student now on the faculty at the University of Lisbon, Portugal, was recently reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers subjected the squids (Dosidicus gigas) to elevated concentrations of CO₂ equivalent to those likely to be found in the oceans in 100 years due to anthropogenic emissions. They found that the squid's routine oxygen consumption rate was reduced under these conditions, and their activity levels declined, presumably enough to have an effect on their feeding behavior.

Jumbo squid are an important predator in the eastern Pacific Ocean, and they are a large component of the diet of marine mammals, seabirds and fish.

According to Seibel, jumbo squid migrate between warm surface waters at night where CO₂ levels are increasing and deeper waters during the daytime where oxygen levels are extremely low.

"Squids suppress their metabolism during their daytime foray into hypoxia, but they recover in well-oxygenated surface waters at night," he said. "If this low oxygen layer expands into shallower waters, the squids will be forced to retreat to even shallower depths to recover. However, warming temperatures and increasing CO₂ levels may prevent this. The band of habitable depths during the night may become too narrow."

Carbon dioxide enters the ocean via passive diffusion from the atmosphere in a process called ocean acidification. This phenomenon has received considerable attention in recent years for its effects on calcifying organisms, such as corals and shelled mollusks, but the study by Seibel and Rosa is one of the first to show a direct physiological effect in a non-calcifying species.

The scientists speculate that the squids may eventually migrate to more northern climes where lower temperatures would reduce oxygen demand and relieve them from CO₂ and oxygen stress. While it is possible, they say, that the squids could adjust their physiology over time to accommodate the changing environment, jumbo squids have among the highest oxygen demands of any animal on the planet and are thus fairly constrained in how they can respond.

"We believe it is the blood that is sensitive to high CO₂ and low pH," Seibel said. "This sensitivity allows the squids to off-load oxygen more effectively to muscle tissues, but would prevent the squid from acquiring oxygen across the gills from seawater that is high in CO₂."

While many other squid and octopus species have oxygen transport systems that are equally sensitive to pH, few have such high oxygen demand coupled with large body size and low environmental oxygen. Therefore the scientists believe that their study results should not be extrapolated to other marine animals.

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Adapted from materials provided by University of Rhode Island, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Invasive species is found on key shellfish habitat: eelgrass

Over the last 10 years, Mary Carman has documented how slimy sea squirts have invaded coastal New England, multiplying on rocks, docks, boat bottoms, moorings, and other hard surfaces. Their rubbery bodies create a nuisance and, perhaps more importantly, render some areas uninhabitable for native species of oysters, mussels, scallops, and other marine life.
Until this summer, Carman had only rarely seen the creatures anchoring themselves to softer structures. So she did a double take when she spotted two sea squirts that she studies, known to scientists as Didemnum vexillum and Dipolsoma listerinum, clinging to acres of underwater eelgrass. The thick, waving meadows of eelgrass provide crucial nurseries for sea life, and are a prime habitat for prized shellfish—bay scallops.
Carman, a researcher at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, found sea squirts coating eelgrass in Sengekontacket Pond and Lake Tashmoo on Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. Under ordinary circumstances, juvenile scallops dangle from eelgrass blades like holiday ornaments, until they grow big enough to release their hold and then swim freely or rest in sediments. But in these spots at least, sea squirts were moving into the scallops' neighborhood.
Was this the first hint of a trend? Alarmed at the possibility, Carman contacted David Grunden, the shellfish constable in the island’s town of Oak Bluffs.
“We’re worried about it,” Grunden said. After seeing the sea squirts, he quickly agreed to partner with Carman to map their spread. “It’s a potential disaster if we find them growing on eelgrass in a large extent.”
(Mary Carman narrates a short video on her work mapping the spread of sea squirts that can have come from Europe and Asia and are crowding out native species of plants and animals. Watch the video »)
Clam copsMartha’s Vineyard shellfish fisheries are so important to the resort island off Cape Cod that each town has a shellfish constable. Locals sometimes jokingly call them “clam cops” and “shellfish sheriffs, ” but jobs like Grunden’s are serious—looking after bay scallops, oysters, clams, and other marine life that live in one of the nation’s most productive shellfish regions.
Though small in size, coastal Massachusetts is one of the top 10 producers of shellfish in the United States. Bay scallops have been important to its residents since colonial times, when settlers picked the shellfish by hand at low tide. At peaks in the 1980s, the state harvest exceeded 1,200 metric tons and was valued at $11 million. On Martha’s Vineyard, where people flock for summer vacations fueled by plates of fresh, garlic-and-butter-infused seafood, bay scallops remain ingrained in the island’s culture.
Since the 1980s, bay scallops—a species with a lifespan of just two years—have been in decline. Research suggests that an increase in nutrients (in the form of fertilizers and sewage from septic systems) that have flowed into coastal waters has spurred rampant growth of marine algae. This diminishes water quality and blankets the water surface, blocking sunlight from penetrating to eelgrass. An influx of sea squirts could make it even harder for bay scallop populations to survive.
One sunny Thursday morning before Labor Day weekend, Carman, Grunden, and several volunteers—including a concerned local fisherman, an underwater photographer, and Carman’s high-school-age daughter—motored into Major’s Cove in Sengekontacket Pond. Wearing snorkeling gear, they jumped overboard to find out just how much of the five-acre eelgrass meadow had been overtaken by sea squirts.
After diving about eight feet to the mucky bottom, Carman surfaced and gently spread several slender, bright green strands on the boat’s deck. Most of the blades were coated at least partially with sea squirts. They looked like rotten scrambled eggs and felt cold and slippery to the touch.
“Look how it is growing right next to the scallop,” she said, gesturing to a thumbnail-size shell attached to the plant. During the next two hours, she and the volunteers swam over the meadows, taking samples and marking locations using a handheld GPS unit.
“They are all the way to the beach, on both sides of the cove,” she said when she swam back to the boat. “They are definitely spreading. That’s not good.”
Sea squirt crusader Carman’s single-minded dedication to learning, and teaching others, about sea squirts began 10 years ago when she was a naturalist who coordinated youth education programs. To answer her students’ questions about the weird-looking, rubbery creature (which some kids called “alien vomit”), she began doing research. She quickly found no ready answers. Since then she has acquired grants and a place in the WHOI Geology and Geophysics Department.
Sea squirts feed on algae and bacteria, using one tube to suck in water and another tube to squirt it out (hence their name). They are tunicates, a name derived from a firm, rubbery outer covering called a “tunic.”
Of the nine types of sea squirts found on Cape Cod, six are invasive species introduced in the last 80 years from Asia and Europe. Carman’s research focuses on a species of the genus Didemnum, which forms dense mats from many small, linked individuals.
The creatures take over new areas in several ways, some traveling in from affected areas by clinging to boat bottoms or aquaculture gear, others by simply traveling from place to place by clinging to a piece of wood, a plastic bottle, or a blade of eelgrass.
“It’s a tremendous management challenge,” said James Carlton, a professor of marine sciences at Williams College in Connecticut. “We can tell the boater to scrub his boat bottom before he hauls it to new area, but how do you prevent grass with sea squirts clinging to it from rafting into new areas?”
On Martha’s Vineyard, with many connected waterways, Carman said it’s easy to imagine how easily they could move and settle into new areas.
“Everywhere I go on the Cape, I’m looking for them,” she said. Her daughter Mimi has been helping look for squirts since kindergarten. Now 16, she joins her mother on snorkeling excursions and can identify native and non-native sea squirts at a glance.
Growing concernOf their growth on Martha’s Vineyard, Carman said, “I’ve never see them in an open area like this and not to this extent.” In late September, she attended a workshop on aquatic invasive species where she confirmed with colleagues that Didemnum vexillum and Dipolsoma listerianum have not been previously documented growing on eelgrass. So far, Grunden said, sea squirts have not had a direct, negative impact on wild populations of bay scallops or on other shellfish that use eelgrass for habitat, such as oysters, quahogs, or clams. However, they are a nuisance to those in the aquaculture industry. They cling to aquaculture equipment, including cages used to encourage bay scallop spawning each year in several ponds on Martha’s Vineyard.
“Oyster farmers find Didemnum to be a pest species that impedes the flow of food and water, are time-consuming to remove, unsightly, and generally just a headache to deal with,” said Diane Murphy, who works with shellfish growers on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard in her job with Cape Cod Cooperative Extension.
Fishermen also want to see less of them. Jeff Clements, a commercial shellfisherman in New England for 35 years, volunteered the use of his boat and time before Labor Day to help Carman’s research.
After toweling off in the boat, he said, “I’ve seen it over the years, but not in such quantities. It’s something I’m worried about.” —Amy E. NevalaFunding for Mary Carman's research came from the Sailors' Snug Harbor of Boston Foundation and the Link Foundation.

New Zealand's colossal squid defies legends

New Zealand's mysterious colossal squid, the largest of the feared and legendary species ever caught, was not the T-Rex of the oceans but a lethargic blob, new research suggests. The 495 kilogramme (1,090-pound) female, accidently hauled in by a fishing boat in the Antarctic last year, was an overweight breeding machine, leading marine biologist Steve O'Shea told AFP Thursday.The colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni), donated to the country's national museum, was probably quite docile when alive, said O'Shea."The colossal species has a reputation for being an aggressive and dangerous predator and have been feared and misrepresented in the past," O'Shea said."My research suggests they're not the T-rex of the sea, they get more docile as they mature, a strange phenomenon that has caught scientists off guard."We are looking at something verging on the incredibly bizarre. As she got older she got shorter and broader and was reduced to a giant gelatinous blob, carrying many thousands of eggs," he said."Her shape was likely to have affected her behaviour and ability to hunt. I can't imagine her jetting herself around in the water at any great speed, and she was too gelatinous to have been a fighting machine."It's likely she was just blobbing around the seabed carrying her brood of eggs, living on dead fish, while her mate was off hunting."The squid began to reveal its secrets to a team of fascinated scientists in April when it was thawed after being frozen on the fishing boat.They were struck initially by her beach ball-sized eyes, describing them as the biggest known in the animal kingdom.The enormous eyes would help the squid locate prey in the dark of its habitat 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) or more below the surface of Antarctic waters.Two long tentacles carry up to 25 rotating hooks each, while eight arms each contain up to 19 fixed hooks used to capture prey and bring it to the squid's beaked mouth.O'Shea and his colleagues believe larger squid still lurk in the southern ocean depths.The New Zealand squid's lower beak measures around 40 centimetres across, while other beaks have been found -- usually in the stomach of predator sperm whales -- measuring up to 49 centimetres.O'Shea said it is possible that colossal squid may grow to up to 750 kilograms but there was not yet enough information to be sure.The squid is expected to go on display in a special tank at Te Papa museum in Wellington later this year.She is believed to be the biggest complete adult of her species ever landed, and very little is known about the colossal squid because they live at extreme depths in Antarctic waters.But research suggests they have a penchant for tooth fish and are no strangers to cannibalism.

Little squirts' identity parade

Lift a rock at the low tide mark on any rocky beach in Northern Ireland and you'll find clumps of ascidians or sea squirts. These apparently unremarkable creatures all look very similar. Some will be translucent jelly-like fingers, some will be round blobs or even flat splodges, fastened to rocks or other solid objects. The big ones in particular have a habit of squirting out water when exposed to air and that's how they get their name. To the casual seaside visitor they are hard to tell apart. And that is why the Ulster Museum organised an international ascidian taxonomy workshop at Portaferry on Strangford Lough. For the best part of the week, they'll be examining local species and sharing their skills and experiences. Sea squirts are filter feeders - they suck in and squirt out the passing sea water and from it they get the small planktons and particles they need to live. But they weren't always static and stuck to some immovable surface; sea squirts start like as tadpole-like larvae and swim about. When they reach the rock of their choosing, they attach themselves to it and start to metamorphose or change into their adult form. An international ascidian taxonomy workshop is taking place To do so they eat their brains. In effect it is like a tadpole turning into a frog - the tadpole's tail is absorbed back into its body. Sea squirt larvae have a nervous system or cerebral ganglion which they absorb into their general cell structure as they mature. Dr Clair Goodwin of the Ulster Museum, who helped organise the workshop, said: "Sea squirts are absolutely essential to the marine ecosystem and this workshop will be key in developing our knowledge of these little-known yet highly important creatures." It is not easy to tell one sea squirt from another and often the exact identification has to be carried out in a laboratory. And that is only possible if you know what you're looking for. So international and UK experts had joined the workshop to share their expertise. One of those is Gretchen Lambert from the University of Washington. She's been studying sea squirts around the world for 40 years.

And after a morning's examination at low tide on Strangford Lough she had good news for our local species. "The only sea squirts we've seen here, I'm happy to say, are native species," she said. "We've not found any invasive or non-native species here today. And that's all to the good. I hope it stays that way." But the threat isn't that far away. Further north along the coast an invasive ascidian - or styela clava, was found in Larne Lough. Having the experts check out Strangford Lough gives scientists a head start on tracking down any future aliens. And at least they'll know what they're looking for.

What Do Squid Hear? Scientists Learn How Sensitive The Translucent Animals Are To Noise

ScienceDaily (July 31, 2008) — The ocean is a noisy place. Although we don't hear much when we stick our heads underwater, the right instruments can reveal a symphony of sound. The noisemakers range from the low-frequency bass tones of a fish mating ritual to the roar of a motorboat. The study of how underwater animals hear is a growing topic in marine science, especially with regards to naval sonar and whales.

This summer at the MBL, zoologist T. Aran Mooney will be the first scientist to look at cephalopod hearing, using the squid, Loligo pealeii, as a model. To learn how sensitive the translucent animals are to noise, he is monitoring squid brain waves as they respond to various sounds, specifically the echolocation clicks of its main predators: the sperm whale, beaked whale, and dolphin. In addition to the brain wave experiments, he also plans to condition squid to avoid certain sounds.

"Sound is one of the most important cues for marine animals. Light doesn't travel well through the ocean. Sound does much better," says Mooney, who is a Grass Fellow at the MBL and beginning postdoctoral research at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution this fall. He predicts that squid probably hear very low-frequency sounds, which means they pick up on fish tones and boat traffic. A better understanding of what these animals hear could reveal how human-induced noise affects cephalopods and how their auditory system evolved separately from that of fish.

Sharing the Grass Lab with Mooney are two other fellows investigating animal behavior. Keram Pfeiffer of the University of Marburg in Germany is training bees to respond to polarized light and Gwyneth M. Card of Caltech is recording how flies decide to initiate flight. They are among nine people to receive 2008 fellowships from the Grass Foundation to conduct summer research in neurobiology at the MBL.

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Adapted from materials provided by Marine Biological Laboratory.

New Zealand scientists thaw 1,000-pound squid corpse

Marine scientists in New Zealand on Tuesday were thawing the corpse of the largest squid ever caught to try to unlock the secrets of one of the ocean's most mysterious beasts. No one has ever seen a living, grown colossal squid in its natural deep ocean habitat, and scientists hope their examination of the 1,089-pound, 26-foot long colossal squid, set to begin Wednesday, will help determine how the creatures live. The thawing and examination are being broadcast live on the Internet.The squid, which was caught accidentally by fishermen last year, was removed from its freezer Monday and put into a tank filled with saline solution. Ice was added to the tank Tuesday to slow the thawing process so the outer flesh wouldn't rot, said Carol Diebel, director of natural environment at New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa.After it is thawed, scientists will examine the squid's anatomical features, remove the stomach, beak and other mouth parts, take tissue samples for DNA analysis and determine its sex, Diebel said."If we get ourselves a male it will be the first reported (scientific) description of the male of the species," Steve O'Shea, a squid expert at Auckland's University of Technology, told National Radio. He is one of the scientists conducting the examination.The squid is believed to be the largest specimen of the rare deep-water species Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, or colossal squid, ever caught, O'Shea has said.Colossal squid, which have long been one of the most mysterious denizens of the deep ocean, can grow up to 46 feet long, descend to 6,500 feet into the ocean and are considered aggressive hunters.At the time it was caught, O'Shea said it would make calamari rings the size of tractor tires if cut up — but they would taste like ammonia, a compound found in the animals' flesh.Fishermen off the coast of Antarctica accidentally netted the squid in February 2007 while catching Patagonian toothfish, which are sold under the name Chilean sea bass.The squid was eating a hooked toothfish when it was hauled from the deep. Recognizing it as a rare find, the fishermen froze the squid on their vessel to preserve it. The national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa, later took possession of it.The previous largest colossal squid ever found was a 660 pound female squid discovered in 2003, the first ever landed.Researchers plan to eventually put the squid on display in a 1,800 gallon tank of formaldehyde at the museum in the capital, Wellington.Colossal squid are found in Antarctic waters and are not related to giant squid found round the coast of New Zealand. Giant squid grow up to 39 feet long, and are not as heavy as colossal squid.

Colossal squid comes out of ice

Technicians in New Zealand have begun to thaw a rare colossal squid specimen. The operation to defrost the 10-metre (34 feet) long, half-tonne squid began on Monday afternoon in Wellington following a postponement of 24 hours. The animal is now sitting in a bath of salt water. Once it is thawed, scientists will begin to dissect it. Very little is known about colossal squid, which appear to live largely in the cold Antarctic waters and can grow up to 15 metres (50 feet) long. "They're incredibly rare - this is probably one of maybe six specimens ever brought up," said Carol Diebel, director of natural environment at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa centre. "It's certainly the one that we're being really careful about, completely intact and in really fantastic condition." The Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni specimen was caught in February 2007 in the Ross Sea. Big unknown The colossal squid is remarkable for its size, but also for how rarely it has been sighted. It was identified first in 1925 from two tentacles found in a sperm whale's stomach. Monster warning to protect oceans These deep-diving toothed whales regularly do battle with Mesonychoteuthis and other giant cephalopods such as the giant squid of the Architeuthis genus. Since 1925, only a few Mesonychoteuthis have been sighted, all in the seas around Antarctica. Very little is known about how and where they live. The one certainty is that they are fearsome opponents, with big beaks and unique swivelling hooks on the club-like ends of their tentacles. One of the first tasks is likely to be ascertaining the squid's gender. This one is believed to be male; and females are thought to grow larger than males. So if this one is a he, presumably there are even bigger and heavier shes somewhere in the cold Antarctic waters. The Te Papa scientists are also defrosting a smaller, damaged colossal squid specimen, and two giant squid. The defrosting and dissection are being shown in a live webcast. Later in the week, scientists are expected to give public lectures about their initial results. Once thawed and examined, the squid will be embalmed and preserved. Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

Migrating Squid Drove Evolution Of Sonar In Whales And Dolphins,

Behind the sailor's lore of fearsome battles between sperm whale and giant squid lies a deep question of evolution: How did these leviathans develop the underwater sonar needed to chase and catch squid in the inky depths?Now, two evolutionary biologists at the University of California, Berkeley, claim that, just as bats developed sonar to chase flying insects through the darkness, dolphins and other toothed whales also developed sonar to chase schools of squid swimming at night at the surface.Because squid migrate to deeper, darker waters during the day, however, toothed whales eventually perfected an exquisite echolocation system that allows them to follow the squid down to that "refrigerator in the deep, where food is available day or night, 24/7," said evolutionary biologist David Lindberg, UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology and coauthor of a new paper on the evolution of echolocation in toothed whales published online July 23 in advance of its publication in the European journal Lethaia."When the early toothed whales began to cross the open ocean, they found this incredibly rich source of food surfacing around them every night, bumping into them," said Lindberg, former director and now a curator in UC Berkeley's Museum of Paleontology. "This set the stage for the evolution of the more sophisticated biosonar system that their descendents use today to hunt squids at depth."Lindberg and coauthor Nick Pyenson, a graduate student in the UC Berkeley Department of Integrative Biology and at the Museum of Paleontology, reconstructed this scenario after looking at both whale evolution and the evolution of cephalopods like squid and nautiloids - relatives of today's chambered nautilus - and relating this to the biology of living whales and cephalopods.All toothed whales, or odontocetes, echolocate. The baleen whales, which sieve krill from the ocean and have no teeth, do not. The largest of the toothed whales, the sperm whale, grows up to 60 feet long and dives to 3,000 meters - nearly two miles - in search of squid. Though poorly known because they live entirely in the deep ocean, the many species of the beaked whale dive nearly as deep. Belugas and narwhals descend beyond 1,000 meters, while members of the dolphin family - porpoises, killer whales and pilot whales, for example - all can dive below the 200-meter mark where sunlight is reduced to darkness.According to Pyenson, who focuses on the evolution of whales, the first whales entered the ocean from land about 45 million years ago, and apparently did not echolocate. Their fossil skeletons do not have the scooped forehead of today's echolocating whales, which cups a fatty melon-shaped ball that is thought to act as a lens to focus clicking noises.Skulls with the first hints of a concave forehead and potential sound-generating bone structures arose about 32 million years ago, Pyenson said, by which time whales presumably had spread throughout the oceans. Whales had developed underwater hearing by about 40 million years ago.According to Lindberg, whale biologists had various theories about echolocation, including that whales developed this biosonar soon after entering the water as a way to find food in turbid rivers and estuaries. The evolution of toothed whales, however, indicates otherwise. Whales first occupied the ocean, and only later invaded rivers. Other experts have proposed that development of echolocation coincided with global cooling around 33.5 million years ago, though a mechanism was not specified.The most convincing explanation, that echolocation allowed whales to more efficiently find food in the darkness of the deep ocean, ignores the question of evolution."How did the whales know there was a large supply of food down in the dark?" asked Lindberg, noting that cephalopods are the most abundant and high-energy resource in the ocean, eaten by 90 percent of all toothed whales. "What were the intermediate evolutionary steps that got whales down there?"Lindberg, a specialist in the evolution of marine mollusks, noted that cephalopods have migrated up and down on a daily "diel" cycle for at least 150 million years. At the time whales developed biosonar, nautiloids dominated the oceans. Lindberg and Pyenson propose that whales first found it possible to track these hard-shelled creatures in surface waters at night by bouncing sounds off of them, an advantage over whales that relied only on moonlight or starlight. This would have enabled whales to follow the cephalopods as they migrated downwards into the darkness during the day. Today, the largest number of squid hang out during the day at about 500 meters below the surface, though some go twice as deep. During the night, however, nearly half the squid are within 150 meters of the surface.Over the millennia, cephalopod species in general - and especially shelled cephalopod species - fell as the number of whale species boomed, possibly because of predation by whales. Then, about 10 million years ago, the whales seem to have driven the nautiloids out of the open ocean into protected reefs. Lindberg said that the decline in nautiloid diversity would have forced whales to perfect their sonar to hunt soft-bodied, migrating squid, such as the Teuthida, which in the open ocean are typically two feet long or bigger and range up to the 40-foot-long giant squid."Whales didn't need to have a very sophisticated sonar system to follow the nautiloids, they could just home in on the hard part," Lindberg said. Only later , he added, did they "develop a complex system with finer resolution to detect and capture soft-bodied squid.""Whales, like bats, developed a sensory system for seeing with sound, and every single toothed whale echolocates in a different way, just like how different bat species echolocate in different ways," Pyenson said. Whales also partition the water column, specializing in harvesting squid at specific depths, just as bats partition the tree canopy and preferentially hunt insects at specific heights.Lindberg noted that whales and bats are strong examples of convergent evolution to take advantage of unexploited food resources: nocturnal insects, in the case of non-migrating insectivorous bats, and nocturnal cephalopods, in the case of whales. And just as predominately migrating fruit bats do not echolocate, so filter-feeding baleen whales that depend on dense seasonal resources lack biosonar.Lindberg and Pyenson used existing data on whales and cephalopods to reach their conclusions, drawing upon aspects of tectonics, paleontology, physiology, ecology, anatomy and biophysics. In the same way, "thinking from an evolutionary perspective about existing data from biology, paleontology and ecology could answer questions about the origin of echolocation in bats, shrews and other animals," Lindberg said.The work was supported in part by the Remington Kellogg Fund and the Doris O. and Samuel P. Welles Research Fund of the UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology and by a graduate research fellowship from the National Science Foundation.

Voracious jumbo squid invade California

Jumbo squid that can grow up to 7 feet long and weigh more than 110 pounds is invading central California waters and preying on local anchovy, hake and other commercial fish populations, according to a study published Tuesday। An aggressive predator, the Humboldt squid — or Dosidicus gigas — can change its eating habits to consume the food supply favored by tuna and sharks, its closest competitors, according to an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal."Having a new, voracious predator set up shop here in California may be yet another thing for fishermen to compete with," said the study's co-author, Stanford University researcher Louis Zeidberg. "That said, if a squid saw a human they would jet the other way."The jumbo squid used to be found only in the Pacific Ocean's warmest stretches near the equator. In the last 16 years, it has expanded its territory throughout California waters, and squid have even been found in the icy waters off Alaska, Zeidberg said.

Zeidberg's co-author, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute senior scientist Bruce Robison, first spotted the jumbo squid here in 1997, when one swam past the lens of a camera mounted on a submersible thousands of feet below the ocean's surface।More were observed through 1999, but the squid weren't seen again locally until the fall of 2002. Since their return, scientists have noted a corresponding drop in the population of Pacific hake, a whitefish the squid feeds on that is often used in fish sticks, Zeidberg said."As they've come and gone, the hake have dropped off," Zeidberg said. "We're just beginning to figure out how the pieces fit together, but this is most likely going to shake things up."Before the 1970s, the giant squid were typically found in the Eastern Pacific, and in coastal waters spanning from Peru to Costa Rica. But as the populations of its natural predators — like large tuna, sharks and swordfish — declined because of fishing, the squids moved northward and started eating different species that thrive in colder waters.Local marine mammals needn't worry about the squid's arrival since they're higher up on the food chain, but lanternfish, krill, anchovies and rockfish are all fair game, Zeidberg said.

A fishermen's organization said Tuesday they were monitoring the squid's impact on commercial fisheries."In years of high upwellings, when the ocean is just bountiful, it probably wouldn't do anything," Zeke Grader, the executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. "But in bad years it could be a problem to have a new predator competing at the top of the food chain."

Gaint squid