Filming locations for nautilus, octopus, squid, and cuttlefish?

jodie

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Hi
I work for an established film company in the UK that specialises in wildlife film-making. I need to find some good film locations for cephs and wondered if anyone could recommend good dive sites? In particular, it would be great if we could find the nautilus. Does anyone have any advice as to how we might be able to track them down?
I'm open to any location but we plan to go to the Bahamas, Palau and Yap later in the year - so any good spots you know for these locations would be fantastic!
 
Hi Jodie,

Vanuatu is one of the best places for seeing nautilus in situ - because of the cold upwelling they can be seen at shallower depths than in most other places. When I have them hand-caught (for research) by divers they mostly go out on or near the full moon when visibility is good, but nautiluses have been known to stay deeper in bright moonlight. Are you using a submersible? Other likely locations are in Palau and along the north-east coast of Australia.

Any hints on what sorts of things you might be hoping to record? I would be so pleased to see some film devoted to behaviour of wild nautiluses.
 
:welcome: to TONMO! Please let us know when your productions can be seen, too!
 
any large reefs. usually after dark for most species, but some are day-active.

now for specialty cephs, there are special locations. most of these however are hazardous and/or lethal creatures, so take care. The infamous Humboldt squid are native to the Gulf of Mexoco and Baja California, but these are also the only cephaolopds known to attack and eat humans.
 
I know you posted this query a long time ago but this may be of interest.
There is a wonderful giant cuttlefish breeding area at Whyalla in South Australia. Whyalla is an easy plane flight from Adelaide. Acomodation is readily available. (The Foreshore Motor inn is a handy/nice motel Foreshore Motor Inn). The location of the cuttlefish is near Point Lowly.

I have dived there several times. From memory at least one of the dives was a shore dive. The water is cold at breeding time and I always wore a 5mm wet suit with both top and bottom. There is/was a dive shop in Whyalla.

It is a very special location as the cuttlefish appear to congregate there specifically to breed. The colour displays and bizzare mating behaviour are incredible.

Visibility is often very good and the water is relatively shallow (I recall about 2m to 5m) so it would make a great filming location. In fact I believe a few TV documentaries have filmed there. As it is located in a gulf waves are generally smallish or non existent....not surf.

Cuttlefish Capital of The World - Whyalla, Cuttle Fish, South Australia, Divers, Photos
also
Sepia apama, the Australian Giant cuttlefish - The Cephalopod Page

http://www.whyallacuttlefish.com/cuttlefish/index.htm

A small map showing the cuttlefish area:
http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0017/18206/cuttle_map.jpg

Hope this helps.

jodie;123192 said:
Hi
I work for an established film company in the UK that specialises in wildlife film-making. I need to find some good film locations for cephs and wondered if anyone could recommend good dive sites? In particular, it would be great if we could find the nautilus. Does anyone have any advice as to how we might be able to track them down?
I'm open to any location but we plan to go to the Bahamas, Palau and Yap later in the year - so any good spots you know for these locations would be fantastic!
 
daddysquoc;123216 said:
The infamous Humboldt squid are native to the Gulf of Mexoco and Baja California, but these are also the only cephaolopds known to attack and eat humans.

:shock: I'd heard of attacks but I didn't think they'd managed to kill anyone yet much less eat them!
 
There were Humboldt squid at la jolla shores here in san diego last weekend, at diving depths without any fishing activity going on. I made a short video featuring footage from the dive. While they were certainly active and curious, and did tend to hit you fairly hard when they checked you out, I didn't feel they were being particularly aggressive. A bad idea to dive with them if you are excitable or inexperienced, they did grab my mask a few times but always let go fairly quickly, they were mostly interested in the video lights. People drown themselves over stupid things all the time, so I don't think i would recommend diving with them really, since they are so active and unafraid, but they were really more investigative than aggressive. Perhaps the tales are reflective of the fishing activity and massive chumming of the water that goes on during these fishing sessions, than of the animals true nature.

Humboldt Squid at La Jolla Video
 
Hi Jodie,
My cousin did some filiming for Pacific Abyss (BBC) along palau and yap (where he lives). they didn't feature any of the ceph footage they got, but they're definitely around there! another spot to check out would be some of the atolls in the marshall's (kwaj in particular). Just out of curiosity what film company are you working for? I have some experience with a few different companies here in the US, and worked on the Humboldt Squid special that aired on NatGeo.. Great profession, keep it up!

Hank
 
Jean;138806 said:
:shock: I'd heard of attacks but I didn't think they'd managed to kill anyone yet much less eat them!


Stuff and nonsense. They have been known to be aggressive towards skin divers, "attacking" is even pushing the limits. Eating them? Oh, come on.

How tales grow in the telling...
 

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