Diving with jumbo squid in CA rare?

[drbill]

I dive yearly in the Sea of Cortez for work and have heard warnings and stories about the Humboldt squid there. From what I've heard they are nainly nocturnal and it is usually on night dives that they pose a potential (and apparently real) threat. I've never encountered them down there.

I just returned to Catalina after two months in Belize and Honduras and learned that one or two very large squid, possibly Humboldts, were sighted in our waters recently. One was seen in the Casino Dive Park and was apparently injured and in bad shape. Maybe this was the same one that began this post? I heard of a "second" sighting a day later by a boater. This time it was a dead squid and may have been the same one.

Dr. Bill

 

[Benthos]

I have posted two more pics of the squids eyes in the the Cephalopod Gallery. They show what his true color was.

Rich

 

[Uncle Pug]

Rich... the calamari in your photo looked a little worse for the wear... perhaps that is why you are still with us. (I hate it when food bites back!)

At any rate.. very cool pics.

 

[MarkH]

Wow! Here's some fairly dramatic reading, but will show you a pic - is this what you encountered? http://diver.net/seahunt/fend/f_scottc.htm

Despite the "ferocious attacks", it looks like the only casualties are the dead squid being displayed on the deck of the boat. Hmmm... who are the dangerous ones after all?

 

[mbuff]

Didn't you watch Octopussy? That's what made the things famous!

All octopods are venomous, by the way.

I'd never heard that all octos were venomous -- I thought it was only the blue ringed. That's pretty interesting.

The blue ringed octo is *extremely* venomous but the venom, tetrodotoxin, is from a bacterial symbiont. You will find the same venom across across a number of species, both terrestrial and marine, including the pufferfish.

Pretty cool stuff. Tetrodotoxin is a great reason not to handle marine critters. It will kill you pretty darn fast. And there's no known antidote, I hear.

 

[archman]

I'd never heard that all octos were venomous -- I thought it was only the blue ringed. That's pretty interesting.

Two Pacific species have bacterial-synthesized tetrodotoxin. All the rest currently studied have to make do with lesser stuff produced from their posterior salivary (aka poison) glands. Tyramine pops up in the literature quite a bit.