DIVE DRY WITH DR. BILL #841: ANOTHER ORGY, LIKE A 60s LOVE-IN
Yes, I'm a child of the 60s. I lived through the love-ins, be-ins, protests and drugs of that era. Of course being a budding young scientist, I viewed these events from an objective distance! My direct participation was pretty limited because, despite what my parents might have thought, I was actually a pretty good boy. Wouldn't they be shocked if they knew the truth!
Today I'm going to write about another mass orgy I've experienced several times over my decades on Catalina. Years ago I wrote a piece about spawning market squid (Doryteuthis opalescens, formerly known as Loligo opalescens) for the newspaper. A mother complained to the publisher when she tried to read it to her kids. So I'm giving a warning to readers of this column... it will be prurient, lascivious, licentious, libidinous and all those other words Word Power Made Easy warned us about!
A team from Japan Underwater Films (JUF) is coming back to Catalina to film this spawning event. Back in 2012 the team came out to film a documentary about our wreckfish (giant "sea bass") that aired on NHK, Japan's public television network. We hope to film another documentary to air there, and be translated into English for our domestic market. Maybe I can become a star to the ladies in the Japanese audience!
The last time I worked on a documentary about squid spawning was during the winter of 2013-14. We had a major event that winter and I convinced my old friend Jean-Michel Cousteau to bring a film crew out to document it. The footage eventually became a part of Jean-Michel Cousteau's Secret Ocean 3-D. I should add that neither Jean-Michel nor I have seen the final print, but I know we got some spectacular footage.
For the past few months I've been working with the team from JUF to help plan this expedition. We will use the dive boat from Catalina Diver's Supply. Undoubtedly this project will involve a lot of night diving since much of the mating happens under cover of darkness (mine, too!). However during the Cousteau filming we also saw substantial coupling during daytime hours as well. I should have no trouble exceeding my goal of 100 dives since mid-August.
When we filmed for Jean-Michel's documentary, we encountered massive fields of squid eggs in the region of White's Landing. It looked like Chicago during a snowstorm! Much of the filming at night was done in Descanso Bay, immediately adjacent to the NW end of the dive park. I created several videos from the HD footage I shot over those weeks, although none of it was included in the documentary because it was being filmed in 3-D high definition format.
A while back I looked over the still images I had extracted from my footage to jog my memory. I sent about two dozen of the images to the JUF team in Japan, and they plan to use them in the introduction to the new documentary. I will also be interviewed about squid. Although I'd filmed mating squid before, this was the best run I had ever seen. I learned a lot about these events from observing and filming this one.
It is often said that squid die right after they lay their egg clusters. While many do, some survive a single spawning event and go on to mate another day, sometimes even in the following year. Of course after a major spawning event, many dead squid litter the bottom. Eventually only their chitinous pens (gladii) remain. Conventional knowledge stated that nothing ate squid eggs. Another fallacy. I observed blacksmith, C-O- sole, señorita and angel sharks feeding on them.
Males often change colors as their chromatophores go crazy under the influence of hormones. Men of our species often employ flashy dress to attract the eye of the ladies. I tend to be much more subdued and rely on camouflage. I should add my attempts are rarely successful. Several different males may simultaneously attempt to grasp and mate with a single female. Sounds like the Chi Chi Club at closing!
Squid spend much of their life out in deeper water where they feed and sequester carbon-based nutrition in their bodies. When they spawn, they do so in shallower waters. The mass mortality following mating means that much organic matter and energy is transported into the shallows to provide a substantial source of nutrients for the critters there. That's ecology for you.
© 2019 Dr. Bill Bushing. For the entire archived set of over 800 "Dive Dry" columns, visit my website Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Home Page
Image caption: Solitary squid... but not for long; ménage à trois and male holding female to mate.
Yes, I'm a child of the 60s. I lived through the love-ins, be-ins, protests and drugs of that era. Of course being a budding young scientist, I viewed these events from an objective distance! My direct participation was pretty limited because, despite what my parents might have thought, I was actually a pretty good boy. Wouldn't they be shocked if they knew the truth!
Today I'm going to write about another mass orgy I've experienced several times over my decades on Catalina. Years ago I wrote a piece about spawning market squid (Doryteuthis opalescens, formerly known as Loligo opalescens) for the newspaper. A mother complained to the publisher when she tried to read it to her kids. So I'm giving a warning to readers of this column... it will be prurient, lascivious, licentious, libidinous and all those other words Word Power Made Easy warned us about!
A team from Japan Underwater Films (JUF) is coming back to Catalina to film this spawning event. Back in 2012 the team came out to film a documentary about our wreckfish (giant "sea bass") that aired on NHK, Japan's public television network. We hope to film another documentary to air there, and be translated into English for our domestic market. Maybe I can become a star to the ladies in the Japanese audience!
The last time I worked on a documentary about squid spawning was during the winter of 2013-14. We had a major event that winter and I convinced my old friend Jean-Michel Cousteau to bring a film crew out to document it. The footage eventually became a part of Jean-Michel Cousteau's Secret Ocean 3-D. I should add that neither Jean-Michel nor I have seen the final print, but I know we got some spectacular footage.
For the past few months I've been working with the team from JUF to help plan this expedition. We will use the dive boat from Catalina Diver's Supply. Undoubtedly this project will involve a lot of night diving since much of the mating happens under cover of darkness (mine, too!). However during the Cousteau filming we also saw substantial coupling during daytime hours as well. I should have no trouble exceeding my goal of 100 dives since mid-August.
When we filmed for Jean-Michel's documentary, we encountered massive fields of squid eggs in the region of White's Landing. It looked like Chicago during a snowstorm! Much of the filming at night was done in Descanso Bay, immediately adjacent to the NW end of the dive park. I created several videos from the HD footage I shot over those weeks, although none of it was included in the documentary because it was being filmed in 3-D high definition format.
A while back I looked over the still images I had extracted from my footage to jog my memory. I sent about two dozen of the images to the JUF team in Japan, and they plan to use them in the introduction to the new documentary. I will also be interviewed about squid. Although I'd filmed mating squid before, this was the best run I had ever seen. I learned a lot about these events from observing and filming this one.
It is often said that squid die right after they lay their egg clusters. While many do, some survive a single spawning event and go on to mate another day, sometimes even in the following year. Of course after a major spawning event, many dead squid litter the bottom. Eventually only their chitinous pens (gladii) remain. Conventional knowledge stated that nothing ate squid eggs. Another fallacy. I observed blacksmith, C-O- sole, señorita and angel sharks feeding on them.
Males often change colors as their chromatophores go crazy under the influence of hormones. Men of our species often employ flashy dress to attract the eye of the ladies. I tend to be much more subdued and rely on camouflage. I should add my attempts are rarely successful. Several different males may simultaneously attempt to grasp and mate with a single female. Sounds like the Chi Chi Club at closing!
Squid spend much of their life out in deeper water where they feed and sequester carbon-based nutrition in their bodies. When they spawn, they do so in shallower waters. The mass mortality following mating means that much organic matter and energy is transported into the shallows to provide a substantial source of nutrients for the critters there. That's ecology for you.
© 2019 Dr. Bill Bushing. For the entire archived set of over 800 "Dive Dry" columns, visit my website Star Thrower Educational Multimedia (S.T.E.M.) Home Page
Image caption: Solitary squid... but not for long; ménage à trois and male holding female to mate.
