I have an association with K&P Aquatics (formerly Sea Life Inc) and benefit when they come across an octopus. Last week they found a "cuttlefish" and asked if it was something I wanted to raise. I explained that we have no cuttles in this hemisphere (the P is for Philipp, a native of Germany so he is somewhat familiar with cuttlefish) but there is one squid that is named "cuttlefish like" that is native to the Keys. I also explained that this animal will not survive shipping but I would be interested in trying eggs if they could find some and described what to look for.
They found eggs close to where the little squid was swimming and I will journal my experience trying to hatch them. Later in the week they found additional eggs that were further along and could clearly see the squid. As they watched the squid started hatching. They collected some of the hatching eggs to photograph then released them after they freed themselves from their casings.
This is part of the email I received with the photos:
They found eggs close to where the little squid was swimming and I will journal my experience trying to hatch them. Later in the week they found additional eggs that were further along and could clearly see the squid. As they watched the squid started hatching. They collected some of the hatching eggs to photograph then released them after they freed themselves from their casings.
This is part of the email I received with the photos:
After today I am a 100% positive that we got the right eggs. I saw exactly the same eggs but instead of eggs I saw little squids in the bubbles. I called Kara over to look at it and they started spawning. Amazing! They squeezed out of their bubble and swam away. They already had ink right after they spawned! I hope the eggs will develop and you will see those little guys. I will send you a couple of pictures tomorrow and you will see a couple of half an hour olds squids. We let them go. It was a great experience.