Eggs store eggs under the arm

A species of squid has been found carrying hundreds of eggs in its arms. This is the first species of squid known to take care of their calves after laying off.

Normally the squid only releases eggs to the bottom of the sea and lets them manage themselves. Now scientists have filmed how the ink of Gonatus onyx takes care of his batch of eggs.

Biologist Brad Seibel of the University of Rhode Island, USA, once suspected that in 1995, he and his colleagues caught both the squid and its eggs in a net. A year later, he also caught another one and lots of baby squid in the same net. This led him and his colleagues to assume that the squid might have looked after the eggs until they hatched.

In collaboration with Bruce Robison and Steven Haddock at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California, USA, Seibel recorded the image of a mother protecting her cubs at a depth of 2,500 m.

After 5 years of observation, the group found 5 female squid carrying 2,000-3,000 eggs. They hugged the eggs with 2 hooks below 3 of 4 hands. Egg wrap is made up of two thin membranes that make up a double-ended pipe. The ink waved to let the water overflow to vent the eggs.

In the past, it was thought that ink could not carry eggs because species often exhausted their energy very quickly after laying eggs. Most squid will soften because their muscles have weakened after laying and die immediately afterwards.

But this species appears to be quite healthy after laying eggs. However, the mother also weakened gradually as the eggs grew bigger, because she could not feed when cuddling her children. The group believes that the mother will carry the eggs in this way for 6-9 months until the eggs hatch, and at that time it will be completely depleted.