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    Squid-dorable Photos from the Vancouver Aquarium
    By Danna Staaf | May 24th 2012 03:48 PM | 3 comments | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
    About Danna

    Cephalopods have been rocking my world since I was in grade school. I pursued them through a BA in marine biology at the University of California...

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    Jonathan Wong, Vancouver Aquarium

    HuffPo has some fantastic photos and a video up from the Vancouver Aquarium. The species is Doryteuthis (once was Loligo) opalescens, sometimes called the inshore opalescent squid or market squid.

    The video has great footage of the arms moving, chromatophores expanding, hearts beating, etc. Check it out!
    (Let it be noted, though, that baby Humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas) are even smaller and therefore cuter.)

    Comments

    rholley
    At this point, doesn’t it look as if it’s scratching the side of its head with its mantle?
     


    Robert H. Olley Quondam Physics Department University of Reading England
    Danna Staaf
    Yes it totally does! That little section of the video reminded me of a behavior we've seen in ommastrephid paralarvae (Humboldt squid and their relatives) where they actually retract their whole head into their mantle, and sort of wiggle around like they're scratching itches. Very adorable.
    rholley
    I’ve just read the comments on this article, two of which are about squid and luminescent bacteria.  Maybe old hat, but interesting all the same.
     
     
    Robert H. Olley Quondam Physics Department University of Reading England