The Squid are Hatching!!!!

[Mo2vation]

Chica and I dived Redondo canyon last night.

Big shock, that. :10:

The viz was about the worst I've seen in, well, almost ever. Above 75 feet it was MAYBE 2 to 3 feet. Just bad.

From 75 to 95 it opened up.

We saw FIVE baby Giant Black Sea Bass, lots of lobster, the usual assortment of crab and sarcastics, etc. Also in the water column were lots of baby shrimp swimming about. And baby Squid!!!!!! The cutest things ever! About 1/3 pinky fingernail size, just squirting around the place.

There were a surprising number of "new" eggs since I was there last (Wednesday 2/7) so some Squid are still making the journey up the canyon and still laying eggs. We even saw one dying, tired, beat up guy kinda hanging out. No Bat Rays, of course. I'm the ray killer - but I'm sure Scott, Kevin and Penny saw 25 of them (Scott is the Ray Whisperer...)

The older egg cases are just fat and some full of pea-sized eggs. You can clearly see the eyes of the babies inside, and even see some of them moving.

Do not miss this. You need to get to the canyon this weekend. There are Squiddys hatching!!! I wouldn't say its a mass hatch yet, but there were lots in the water last night.

Don't find time to come out. MAKE time to come out.

---
Ken

 

[drbill]

FIVE baby giant sea bass, hatching squid... you almost have me wishing I was diving the mainland this weekend, Ken.

I have yet to see more than a few single squid egg cases out here on Catalina, but plan to be diving off the boat three of the next five days (and the park the other two, but I can't imagine seeing them there).

 

[orangelion03]

Thanks for the heads-up Ken!!

Unfortunately I dont think I can dive this weekend..Mardi Gras party in Hollywood tonight, recovering from said party tomorrow, me mum's birthday on Sunday. Oh yeah, my regs are out being serviced as well. Bummer!! Still, maybe they be hatching all of next week too!

 

[ScubaMilo]

The O.C. was also in attendance last night,
Riguerin(rick), Dirbum(Brian) and myself arrived on site as Ken and Dette where tromping accross the sand.
Like Ken said limited vis. but lots of action.
It was amazing to see all the baby squid hatchlings and as Ken stated a lot of small shrimp.
We had schools of fish come swooping through feeding on all the little hatchlings, and pelting us in the process.
We saw quite a few lobster and what I think were large brown shrimp.
We saw one lonely squid who was obviously very late for the party.
On the way back in we saw what I believe to be a Clown Dorid?(small Nudi whiteish color, orange spots on tips of tubercles)
While doing stop at 20 ft we saw a very small about 1 inch by 1 inch jelly don't know what it was but very cool.
All in all great dive.

Milo

 

[alaity47]

Well, drat - just in time for me to head off to Australia for two weeks. Guess I'll have to miss the baby squid this year.

 

[ScubaMilo]

Well, drat - just in time for me to head off to Australia for two weeks. Guess I'll have to miss the baby squid this year.

Dang, I hate it when this happens.
You have to fly half way around the world to warm clear waters of Australia right in the middle of a cold low viz Califonia winter.

You must have the worst luck.

Milo

 

[riguerin]

While doing stop at 20 ft we saw a very small about 1 inch by 1 inch jelly don't know

Scottfiji posted some pics from his dive at Vet's last night. He captured this Hydromedusa in 20fsw. Looks like our little friend ... same exact depth.

Yeah, viz was pretty cruddy last night. Geez, I couldn't even see the bottom till we were about 4ft from it. Had to really lay on the inflator quickly to keep from crashing into sand. It was definitely pretty cool seeing all the tiny little squid hatchlings.

Did you get any good pics of the squidlets, Ken ?