Captivating capsules

  

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:

 

 

Above you can see several embryos, each with two bright red eye spots, a relatively short body section behind the eyes, and a drawn out teardrop-shaped yolk.

When you zoom in even further, you'll notice small chromatophores (pigment spots) on the mantle/main body section!

 

 

The time it takes for the embryos to develop is dependent on water temperature.  In our area it might take ~45-75 days (faster development in warmer water) before the tiny squid larvae are ready to hatch and swim away from the capsule.

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.