The massive squid spawn of a 1-2 weeks ago appears to be over. I dove the site of our filming with the Cousteau team and the area Dick Murphy termed "the graveyard," with thousands of dead squid on the bottom, is no more. In its place I found nothing but the egg clusters and the discarded squid "pens" (gladis) that form the internal "skeleton" of the squid. They were scattered all over the bottom indicating the scavengers feasted on the dead squid but couldn't digest the gladis.
I was surprised to find one white patch of what appears to be bacteria. I'm thinking it must have been from some of the squid that died early on. I don't remember ever seeing bacterial mats in our waters, but have seen extensive ones diving down in La Jolla. Wondering if anyone else has noticed such bacterial mats after squid die-offs in our region?
I was surprised to find one white patch of what appears to be bacteria. I'm thinking it must have been from some of the squid that died early on. I don't remember ever seeing bacterial mats in our waters, but have seen extensive ones diving down in La Jolla. Wondering if anyone else has noticed such bacterial mats after squid die-offs in our region?
