SQUIDCAM II

[cthulhu77]

He likes to watch.

Cool stuff, Herr Doktor !

greg

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Righteo; I've done what I can with the lighting and backdrop for the day (have too much on to spend much more on it) - it's still very crappy, and there are some frustrating reflections in there (caused by overhead lighting that I cannot change), but it is much better than it was. There is just one in there at present, but over the next week we should be putting in many dozens, and possibly an egg mass (almost ready to explode a squillion babies). You can see him hanging around at the surface quite easily, although the lighting is so bad he looks like a white spot.

 

[Mo_]

Yes, it's there!!

I think I see it. It looks just like a white spot. It's moving all the time. Thanks for sharing this, it's really thrilling.

 

[squidviscious]

another egg mass

Poor old squiddy looks like he's gettn lonely, but not to worry, he'll have at least 100 friends to play with in a week or so.
Can you see the little fella near the bottom?

 

[squidviscious]

"But wait, thers more"

Thanks to Steve, Kat and Gary, we may well have 1000 babies swimming around in one month. Check out this HUGE egg mass in our system.
Now all i need is 5000 mysids ready to fed the little guys on their arrival

 

[chrono_war01]

where did the egg mass come from?

 

[Feelers]

I got a great view, could make out the eyes and tenticles (very blurry but still individualised features) If I can get it again ill put up a screenshot.
He moves pretty fast but I was lucky enough to catch him at the top for a while.

This things awsome, but what are you gonna do with all those squid? can u just leave them in a massive group?

 

[squidviscious]

The eggs were collected in the same area as the first bunch on Carpophyllum weed off a group of Islands in the Hauraki Gulf, here off Auckland, New Zealand.

 

[squidviscious]

I will be doing some tank configuration testing with the squid, noting any behavioural changes.
Should we get 1000 healthy 1 month old babies, then we'll, have to find more tanks but we have enough tank space to accomodate for the little fella's up to this stage.
The egg masses will be separated according to the hatching times, because mixing cohorts would be dangerous and i would like to test "known" aged paralarva and juveniles seperately.

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Got the little sod; he's certainly growing; a few more weeks and he should be a little easier to photograph.

 

[Steve O'Shea]

We're having a few 'technical difficulties' here, as in a recent deluge has flooded some IT sort of room and has shorted out(?) a few cables (goes to show my ignorance when it comes to such matters); consequently the internet is down in the wetlab and a few other offices (this has nothing to do with squiddy!!).

Squiddy, by the way, is doing fine, and he has ~ 50 brothers and sisters in a separate tank, now nearly 2 weeks old, that we'll soon place in with him for company (as we're expecting ~1500 to hatch within two weeks, from separate egg masses, at which point in time we'll need a tremendous amount of tank space freed up). I forget how old squiddy is, though it must be nearly 4 weeks.

Things should be operational again shortly, hopefully today.

 

[Steve O'Shea]

All's back to normal. Squidvicious (aka Jason) has a wee problem; too much success. Squiddy unfortunately remains a single squid, now 5 weeks old, but until we sort out exactly what Jason is going to do with his thesis (research) we'll keep the others separate from him (there are squid coming out of our ears at present). He's about to trial 3 different diets to see what happens. Having ironed out the earliest problems with squid culture, and with ~ 1000+ squid due to hatch, and ~ 60 others now ~ 2 weeks old, Jason will have to do something smartly and magical with tank facilities (and let many squid go).

Anyone in NZ want any squid?

 

[chrono_war01]

Sadly, I do not live in NZ, but I'm coming...say...how big are the squids now? I can't see too well with the cam...

 

[Steve O'Shea]

I put a further 5 in there this morning, because there'll be some pretty big news re squid in the not-too-distant future. It pays to have a few more in there in the event people tune in to watch a live animal.

......... until then my lips are sealed.

 

[Squidman]

......... until then my lips are sealed.

Every good Steve O'Shea post seems to end with something like this...