another metasepia, some sepia pharonis & officinalis

[fluffysquid]

Here's some more pictures. much better focus than last time i posted.

These are images of metasepia as well as Sepia officinalis and Sepia pharonis.

 

[fluffysquid]

more picures...

 

[joel_ang]

Real nice photos fluffysquid . They're definitely much sharper than the previous ones. Just curious, how big are the cuttles, the officinalis and the pharoanis look pretty big to me.

 

[Colin]

Yep, very nice pics!

The Pharaohs are amazing!

 

[fluffysquid]

the pharoahs are about...hm...the largest might have (rough estimate) a mantle length of 40 cm? the officinalis are significantly smaller... about half that size or less.

as I fed the metasepia tonight, I had the joy of seeing it hunt for the first time! it snagged a small shrimp and for a long time afterwards, dark lines were moving down and up its mantle, terminating in the middle. It was a color show the likes of which I've never seen in any of the other species.
sadly, i wasn't expecting it, so i didn't have my camera handy to catch it on video. Another time, perhaps...

 

[Jean]

sadly, i wasn't expecting it, so i didn't have my camera handy to catch it on video. Another time, perhaps...

Ain't that always the way :x ? I was snorkeling up at the Leigh Marine Reserve (North of Auckland) and came across a couple of baby squid just hovering in the water...........wouldn't you know it I'd just used the last shots of my last film on.............................CHRISTMAS TREE WORMS and to add insult to injury the pics didn't even turn out all that well

J

 

[fluffysquid]

aww....yeah. something like that is just so sad when it happens.

Another sad camera story: this summer when i was in Detroit with my sailing team for the the College Sailing National Chapionships, the 128 meg smart media card in my camera was corrupted by a strange card reader at a photo center.

so sad. that card remains unusable to today while i'm forced to subsist on 16 meg cards until i make the effort to buy a new 128.

... borrowed 16 meg cards....*shame* heh

 

[Sedusa]

how big is the metasepia? where did you get it? (just curious)

 

[fluffysquid]

Sedusa-

that metasepia is one of five (? i think) the NRCC aquired. They range in size between (rough estimate) 2 to 3.5 cm mantle length.

They have been trying to get them for a long time, but i do not know the specifics.

you were asking about major work done with them when i posted that first picture: there is a program for them now and i've just posted some of the details there.

 

[joel_ang]

They are certainly much smaller than I expected. They looked more like 8 cm adults. Just curious, what are the metasepia fed, shrimps, crabs?

 

[fluffysquid]

They are certainly much smaller than I expected. They looked more like 8 cm adults. Just curious, what are the metasepia fed, shrimps, crabs?

small shrimps mainly. no crabs at all.