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This is one of the largest Hapalochlaena lunulata I have ever photographed. She is carrying early eyespot eggs and has not yet started to senesce. Here she is landing on a piece of coral rubble.
Yes, carrying eggs definitely changes their appearance. She has a mass of eggs the size of a walnut I've seen her drop in once, but even when she jets around her tank or is handled with a net, she manages to hold on to them
@Neogonodactylus Somehow I envisioned the egg mass attached to the animal like they would be to a substrate. Now I assume they are somehow "wired" together to keep them in a ball but can be released so that she could feed (but I assume, does not).
When she dropped the egg mass, did she leave it for any period of time or immediately retrieve it?
The eggs are arranged in garlands of around 20-30 eggs. I would guess that there are about 15 - 20 strings. She rarely lets loose of them, but if she does she quickly picks them up again. She doesn't not hunt prey but did take a piece of grass shrimp today when I placed it near her mouthl I have seen other females loose several garlands of eggs, but pick them up again several hours later.