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neurobadger;178633 said:
lol I feel the same way about the fruit section in grocery stores. All those poor fruits battered and bruised, smashed in a pile to rot.
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Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.
Brief Squid (Lolliguncula brevis)
- Thread starter RoFlores
- Start date
lol I feel the same way about the fruit section in grocery stores. All those poor fruits battered and bruised, smashed in a pile to rot.
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2009
- Messages
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Though to be honest I wish there were live sea food markets around here where I could buy cephs and other marine fish/inverts for really cheap. I know they keep them in very poor conditions, but they are only ment to last a short while until they are eaten. Not much you can do about that.
Use the options link to the right of the share and pick the "long" link then use the little film icon to post that text.
The appearance of the squid is magical. At first you think you are only seeing one
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PS: I really enjoyed the progressive fusion jazz ditty! Artist?
PPS: Is it just me, or are the squid breathing in sync?
PPS: Is it just me, or are the squid breathing in sync?
Keeping Squid in Captivity
Squid are very difficult to collect undamaged, transport and keep in captivity. It is not impossible – just very very difficult.
Many scientists that collect and keep squid use them as quickly as they can, before they die, typically for neuro work. I talked my way onto that boat that collected squid for the Gilly lab in the film, and was one of the only scientist left standing as the others and most of the film crew were sea sick. Those 20 to 25 pound humbolt squid were much larger than what I was used to and went from one end of the large cooler to the other – not a good squid to water ratio - but the best we could do given their size. When one inked I quickly learned that it was a write off. A 1.5 inch pipe with a strong flow of seawater was not nearly enough to keep up.
I work in life history, growth physiology and behviour, so I need healthy growing squid - that is a serious challenge. A few species of squid can (as in it is possible) be kept in captivity for longer term (months). However, I highly discourage this unless you live near the source and have deep pockets. We collected and kept L. brevis at the NRCC and also worked with reef squid. However, most of my experience collecting and keeping squid is with Caribbean Reef Squid in Bermuda. These two papers are based work their and report excellent captive survival rates.
Zeeh K.M. and*Wood J.B.*(In Press) Impact of Visible Implant Elastomer Tags on Growth Rates of Captive Caribbean Reef Squid (Sepioteuthis sepioidea). Fisheries Research.*
Replinger S.E. and*Wood J.B.. (2007)*A preliminary investigation of the use of subcutaneous tagging in Caribbean reef squid*Sepioteuthis sepioidea*(Cephalopoda: Loliginidae).*Fisheries Research. Vol 84, 308-313.*
To collect Caribbean Reef Squid, I employed a small army of interns and students to heard the squid into a stationary seine net. We then removed them from the seine net with a professional collectors net (the kind with plastic sides) so that their skin is never abraded by a mesh net. Squid were placed in a 15 gallon tote (bigger than a 5 gallon bucket) for the ride home. The drive back to the lab was less than 30 minutes. During this time I had one of the students use a turkey baster to slurp out any ink and shoot it out the window as we drove. Constant attention, short transport times, the largest container I could fit in the back of my car and being careful to not abrade their skin are what I believe are critical factors.
The tanks in the lab were in a secured area. When I was working on octopuses, I literally had tour groups off of cruise ships in my wet lab. They could take flash pictures, waver their hands around, kick the tanks and it didn't matter much as the octopuses quickly adapted to people.
Any rapid environmental change can disturb squid can cause them to jet into the side of the tank. in nature, squid are not used to walls, have nothing to hide behind except other squid and EVERYTHING eats them – even other squid. No one was allowed in my wet lab when I had squid unless they were with someone that was part of the lab and had a good reason to be there. The tanks were large and fiberglass – the kind you could snorkel inside – the kind that do not have windows – one less thing to scare the squid. Tanks were lined with plastic tarps, a pool noodle was used to hold the tarps off the side of the tank. That way, when the squid did freak out and jet into the side, the wall had some give. We also made mesh tops as the squid can and will jump out if spooked. We did everything we could to minimize rapid changes in the room as they could spook the squid which caused them to jet into the side of the tank – this damages their delicate skin and can kill them.
We collected live food, silversides, 3-4 times a week for the squid. Squid always had live food but even in the very best of conditions, the squid were cannibalistic. Water quality and inking was generally not a problem as the system was an open system. However, every time the 162 foot research vessel left or returned, it kicked up sediment which could lower the water quality and kill the squid; we had to be sure to turn the water off and flush the lines out when this happened.
Even with the large tanks, we concentrated on collecting small 5 to 30 g Caribbean Reef Squid. I believe that the ratio of squid size to tank size is very important. Also, adult squid were a lot more delicate.
That is how we were able to keep Caribbean Reef Squid for months, with minimal mortality and good growth rates. Access to institutional resources such as large fiberglass tanks, a flow through seawater system, schools of live silversides 150 feet from the lab and a small army of student and top-tier intern volunteers were a large part of the success.
James
PS Roland and I just published a paper on Keeping Captive Squid, see page 30 of:
http://www.columbuszoo.org/drumcroaker/pdf/2011.pdf
Squid are very difficult to collect undamaged, transport and keep in captivity. It is not impossible – just very very difficult.
Many scientists that collect and keep squid use them as quickly as they can, before they die, typically for neuro work. I talked my way onto that boat that collected squid for the Gilly lab in the film, and was one of the only scientist left standing as the others and most of the film crew were sea sick. Those 20 to 25 pound humbolt squid were much larger than what I was used to and went from one end of the large cooler to the other – not a good squid to water ratio - but the best we could do given their size. When one inked I quickly learned that it was a write off. A 1.5 inch pipe with a strong flow of seawater was not nearly enough to keep up.
I work in life history, growth physiology and behviour, so I need healthy growing squid - that is a serious challenge. A few species of squid can (as in it is possible) be kept in captivity for longer term (months). However, I highly discourage this unless you live near the source and have deep pockets. We collected and kept L. brevis at the NRCC and also worked with reef squid. However, most of my experience collecting and keeping squid is with Caribbean Reef Squid in Bermuda. These two papers are based work their and report excellent captive survival rates.
Zeeh K.M. and*Wood J.B.*(In Press) Impact of Visible Implant Elastomer Tags on Growth Rates of Captive Caribbean Reef Squid (Sepioteuthis sepioidea). Fisheries Research.*
Replinger S.E. and*Wood J.B.. (2007)*A preliminary investigation of the use of subcutaneous tagging in Caribbean reef squid*Sepioteuthis sepioidea*(Cephalopoda: Loliginidae).*Fisheries Research. Vol 84, 308-313.*
To collect Caribbean Reef Squid, I employed a small army of interns and students to heard the squid into a stationary seine net. We then removed them from the seine net with a professional collectors net (the kind with plastic sides) so that their skin is never abraded by a mesh net. Squid were placed in a 15 gallon tote (bigger than a 5 gallon bucket) for the ride home. The drive back to the lab was less than 30 minutes. During this time I had one of the students use a turkey baster to slurp out any ink and shoot it out the window as we drove. Constant attention, short transport times, the largest container I could fit in the back of my car and being careful to not abrade their skin are what I believe are critical factors.
The tanks in the lab were in a secured area. When I was working on octopuses, I literally had tour groups off of cruise ships in my wet lab. They could take flash pictures, waver their hands around, kick the tanks and it didn't matter much as the octopuses quickly adapted to people.
Any rapid environmental change can disturb squid can cause them to jet into the side of the tank. in nature, squid are not used to walls, have nothing to hide behind except other squid and EVERYTHING eats them – even other squid. No one was allowed in my wet lab when I had squid unless they were with someone that was part of the lab and had a good reason to be there. The tanks were large and fiberglass – the kind you could snorkel inside – the kind that do not have windows – one less thing to scare the squid. Tanks were lined with plastic tarps, a pool noodle was used to hold the tarps off the side of the tank. That way, when the squid did freak out and jet into the side, the wall had some give. We also made mesh tops as the squid can and will jump out if spooked. We did everything we could to minimize rapid changes in the room as they could spook the squid which caused them to jet into the side of the tank – this damages their delicate skin and can kill them.
We collected live food, silversides, 3-4 times a week for the squid. Squid always had live food but even in the very best of conditions, the squid were cannibalistic. Water quality and inking was generally not a problem as the system was an open system. However, every time the 162 foot research vessel left or returned, it kicked up sediment which could lower the water quality and kill the squid; we had to be sure to turn the water off and flush the lines out when this happened.
Even with the large tanks, we concentrated on collecting small 5 to 30 g Caribbean Reef Squid. I believe that the ratio of squid size to tank size is very important. Also, adult squid were a lot more delicate.
That is how we were able to keep Caribbean Reef Squid for months, with minimal mortality and good growth rates. Access to institutional resources such as large fiberglass tanks, a flow through seawater system, schools of live silversides 150 feet from the lab and a small army of student and top-tier intern volunteers were a large part of the success.
James
PS Roland and I just published a paper on Keeping Captive Squid, see page 30 of:
http://www.columbuszoo.org/drumcroaker/pdf/2011.pdf
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