Very, Very sad indeed.

I'm sorry to hear of your loss Steve...I got kind of attached even though I only looked on from afar....Were you able to track how many people checked in on Squidcam? Just curious. I am sure he was quite a celebrity!!!! Sure put a show on for the camera!!! RIP

Carol

Sorry to hear that guys, I wish you better luck with the next batch :smile:

next batch?

Very sorry to hear about this, Steve. I'll miss that sinister fellow.

Might I suggest a commemorative video montage of ****head's life? Hovering, hovering, hovering, jetting, hovering, tearing a fish apart, hovering, hovering. All to the tune of Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On."

RIP, ****head.

Clem

...Were you able to track how many people checked in on Squidcam? Just curious.

Hiya Carol; as of a month ago (the last time I checked), he'd had ~ 111,000 views; when you look at the number of thread hits (currently ~6,900) for this particular thread it's pretty obvious that many people were dialling into squiddy directly (rather than through the thread); the stats identified most as originating in the US, then Canada, Australia .... with NZ near the bottom (so it wasn't me). You'd be working in that particular room and you'd be hearing the camera going whirrrrrr, whirrr, zoom, zoom, whirrrrrr constantly, so he was a popular little fellow.

I'm very sad to hear about the passing of Sh*thead. He/she was a pioneer of "reality TV" that, apparently, touched the lives of hundreds of devoted fans. Perhaps s/he should have been called "Truman." The record mentioned on the squidcam page of 120 days was broken, right? Were you able to determine Sh*thead's gender post-mortum? :sad:

All to the tune of Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On."
I believe Neil's "On the Way to the Sky" might be more appropriate ;)

TPOTH

I believe Neil's "On the Way to the Sky" might be more appropriate ;)

TPOTH

I agree.

Ha! That sounds good to me.

Poor Fellas sitting on my desk now.
Alas, we will be back with many more in the near future.
Will be doing work with him and the others soon, and will post the findings.

I'm sorry to hear this. :sad:

Hey Steve and team, GREAT JOB with Sh**head. You took him a long way.

Onward!

when do you expect there to be a next batch?

THANK YOU TEAM SQUIDCAM!!!
I intoduced SH*%head to many folks..
Thanks to all for your much appreciated efforts!

Sh*#head will rise again!! :shock:

ancora imparo,
-Paul

There will be no other Sh*theads, just like there can be no 2 Steve O'Sheas, and no 2 Neil Daimonds. But there can be a person that can rival Steve O'Shea in squid knowledge and there can be one who sings like Neil, so watch out Squidcam, a new resident is going to be here, pretty soon! ( I think)

Wow! I'm blown away; can't believe the lil' bugger's gone. Really makes me regret all those times just walking through the office without stopping in to say "Hello, love!" Catching little fishies for him was one of the funniest things, "How many marine biologists and wanna-be's does it take to catch a handful of little sprat?" More than you'd imagine. Well, as it has been said time and time before, RIP Sh^thead. You will be deeply missed.

Flash Special //Flash Special //Flash Special //Flash Special //Flash Special //

***Hot of the presses! In the local student mag over here***

World famous Squiddy croaks after breaking record

by Jonathan Williams

A new squid will arrive on Squidcam by August after the beloved Squidcam squid "Squiddy" died last week. Squiddy left us last week, and while the cause of death has not yet been determined, it could be any number of reasons, says Dr Steve O'Shea, of the Faculty of Applied Sciences. He lists stress as the major reason, but does not discount other options, pending Squiddy's autopsy. "About 20 moderate-sized sprats were placed into the tank about 30 minutes prior to his death. There could have been a spike in oxygen demand. Alternatively he could have speared himself through the brain with a fish bone, and died of gluttony." Dr O'Shea is in charge of the world-leading experiment to keep giant squid alive in captivity. He already held the world record of 120 days, but Squiddy broke this record by living for a whopping 217 days. More than 650 faithful viewers of Squidcam each day will have to wait until more squid eggs, collected by Dr O'Shea off seaweed in the Hauraki Gulf, hatch. Squiddy provided valuable new insights for the experiment, by proving the primary goal that a developing squid can be kept alive in a reasonably small tank area, says Dr O'Shea. However, he plans to increase the size of the tank for the next experiment. Squidcam is designed to raise the public awareness of the plight of giant squid - many of which are native to New Zealand waters but are chronically endangered.

--------------------------------------------------------

TPOTH

after the beloved Squidcam squid "Squiddy" died last week. Squiddy left us last week

Someone needs to set the name game straight....

It's Sh*thead, but you can't say that in public can you?

It's Sh*thead, but you can't say that in public can you?

Dunno. I'm not the author but I'd assume that, as much as "bollocks" is authorised, calling the record-breaking squid "Sh*thead" might be frown upon ;)

TPOTH

Yikes, I'm away for a while and this happens.

RIP Sh*thead, and thank you Steve for making the Squidcam possible.

--Carl
:squid:

We've got additional eggs now, and am diving again tomorrow to try and get more. The weather is nothing short of horrible ... makes for an unpleasant dive, and uncomfortable boating trip in big seas ....

For sure we'll have additional squid on SQUIDCAM in ~ 4 weeks, eggs even sooner (awaiting camera setup again). Pity we have to start from scratch again, but themz the breaks (the tiny fellas are so hard to see).

Will let you know when we're back online.

same species?

Ja; back on the old merry-go-round

It's a sad loss for little Sh*thead, any guess as to the age? Well, good luck on the next try, I wish you all the best. Now is anyone else wondering why it says "Squiddy" on the site? By the way, is Sh*thead a reference to The Jerk with Steve Martin?

Afraid not (re Steve Martin); it's just that I'm not too creative when it comes to names for pets (and all three cats are called 'Sh*thead' also ... although wifey has more eloquent names for them - I did actually get to name one of them - called her 'moggy'). ALL(!!) respond to Sh*thead.

I'm afraid that we sucked the kumura with more squid eggs today - two different sites turned up zip; will have another look tomorrow eve in silt-infested harbour waters, before heading further afield.

can't wait, tell us when you come back.

Well, get ready for the return of SQUIDCAM, and the return of SQUID. The eggs will hatch within the next 24hours, and then we can lower the current flow in the tank and turn SQUIDCAM back on. We should be up and running very soon.

You ready Eric? They'll be small, only ~ 5mm total length when they hatch, so they will be hard to see for a while.

I can't believe that we are doing this all over again.

Squid have proven extremely scarce this year (winter-spawning ?cohort) - weird weather and temperature - and in all of the dives that I've done recently (last week's one nearly killed me with an exhaustion-induced blackout at ~80 feet) we've only collected two bunches. The first-collected bunch hatches tomorrow (and maybe even this evening).

That's wonderful news!!!! And guess what "Doc"? A coworker is an avid Neil fan! I have to pick up an album of his from Costco next time I go! Anyway, looking forward to the cams return!!!

Carol

Fantastic! I'm really looking forward to the Squidcam being up and running again.

Excuse my ignorance, are they Archi?

Excuse my ignorance, are they Archi?

Afraid not; good-old broad squid (Sepioteuthis australis) again. Sounds silly, but everyone is a little nervous this time around, despite having done it before on quite a few occasions (poor 'squidvicious' is going to grey in 3 weeks, because his thesis depends on these little brutes surviving).

Great news!! Might we close this thread, and open a new one to commence phase 2? A "Squid Cam II" thread, perhaps?

I thought about that Tony (it also overcomes the problem of missing images in the first part of this thread).

Consider it done when it's up and running.
Cheers
O

We have babies!

New thread ......

There's a slight holdup with getting the new SQUIDCAM operational, because it has been moved from an 'office environment' to a wet laboratory (and obvious apprehension on the part of IT to have this equipment surrounded by salt creep and water).

There are about 14 x 1-5-day old squid in the tank at present, and they are doing well. Whether this goes online next week (when we are gone at a conference) or not waits to be seen, but it is imminent. I am closing this thread and starting a new one, SQUIDCAM II, for further updates. Cheers.
Me