We came across several squid egg capsules washed up on the beach yesterday (3 October 2020).
These elongate gelatinous capsules contain lots of developing embryos (somewhere between ~50-300, depending on the capsule), each within their own compartment. It's somewhat similar to a beehive, so if you look carefully at the photo above, you can see that the capsule contains many roughly hexagonal-shaped areas and each one of those has a tiny squid embryo. (The squid larvae are ~3 mm when they hatch.)
Here's a closer view:
When you zoom in even further, you'll notice small chromatophores (pigment spots) on the mantle/main body section!
P.S. If you'd like to see squid embryo chromatophores in action, I posted a short video clip back in 2014 — scroll down to the bottom of the post called "Be dazzled!" on 8 October 2014.
2 comments:
Thank for you for this awesome dose of goodness to our inbox most every day, Jackie. It is very much appreciated!
Hi, Miles and Teresa!
Thanks for the feedback! It's fun for me, too, to share observations and to introduce our wild neighbors.
:) Jackie
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