Well we still have one or two small octis and one has laid eggs! Here she is in her den with her eggs! The last pic is of Fluffybum a rather rare deep water seastar (Pteraster bathamae
They're attached to the den AND she's got them cradled in her arms!
Yep Fluffybum was sooooooo much better than the alternatives suggested, we do have to talk to children about it! It's also more fun than "elongated aboral dermal papillae"
While the squarium is closed, we are still running our school ed programmes and our educators had a group on the shore last week and look at what they found on the low shore! It's an aeolidiid sea slug Spurilla drusilla and it is quite uncommon, I see my pic made the newspaper but I don't get the credit! http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/237022/citizen-scientists-sought-project
Beautiful critter! Not long ago I mentioned your square meter project (but fail to remember the member ) as a suggestion for projects. I hope this takes off as I think it is a terrific idea! Wish I could help with the website.
I am impressed with your photos, I could not get anything even close with small egg hatchlings and even the fully formed large egg pictures I took were not this good. Are they in a flow through system or are all those shut down now?
LOL, I did not think the ones you photographed were in the tank. THAT would indeed be a special trick in the photography world.
I was wondering about how long they might survive. If they are in a flow through system there is always a possibility of a couple finding the right food but no chance if they are in and enclosed environment.
Weill I am still in the land of the living! The Portobello aquarium is still a dream in the making! We need many more $$$$$$ But we're working on it. The NZMSC is still doing many programmes (actually we're nearly fully booked!) and on one of our recent programmes (Otago University Advanced School Science Academy) we collected this lovely lady from a dredge! She's a midget octopus (Likely Octopus huttoni) and she now resides in one of our Red Sea Max tanks, where we see her on occasion! Other than working at the NZMSC I am now the PERMANENT (woohoo!) Biological oceanography teaching fellow (albeit part time) which includes some research $$ Prob not enough to work on squid, so I might be heading back out to the mudflats! I'm still working at Orokonui Ecosanctuary too and have had some amazing bird tours, plus have had a chance to work with Rod Morris who is the most amazing wildlife photographer check out Rod Morris Nature Photography so busy time being had. I am now gearing up for the new semester, was sploshing on the mudflat yesterday checking for a field trip and discovered my gumboots AND "waterproof" over trousers leak..... so shopping!
You have certainly had some wonderful opportunities to meet and work with exceptional people this last year! Don't send Steve OShea links to the bird photos or he will be shopping more lenses!
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