The Southern Bobtail Squid (Euprymna tasmanica) also known as the Southern Dumpling Squid are found in the waters off southern Australia. They are very small in size, about the size of a gold ball. They live on sand and mud areas, often in association with seagrass beds and emerge at night to forage for crustaceans and fish.
Within their mantle is a very special light organ which is used at night to cancel out their silhouette from predators on the seafloor. The organ is filled with luminescent bacteria that are trapped from the seawater by the organ.
The Bobtail Squid bury themselves in the seafloor during the day and use their second pair of arms to rake sand grains over their head and body. The entire upper surface of their skin contains two very special cell types. One acts like a glue, holding a coat of sand over the body, so that even if flushed out of the sand by a predator the sand will remain. The second are special acid cells that can be used to disconnect the entire sand coat at once, leaving it as a sinking decoy for a predator while the squid jets away.
I took this image while on a night dive in Trail Bay, Tasmania. The bobtail squid were all found in a sandy patch near the boat ramp at a depth of 1-2m.
The Southern Bobtail Squid (Euprymna tasmanica) also known as the Southern Dumpling Squid are found in the waters off southern Australia. They are very small in size, about the size of a gold ball. They live on sand and mud areas, often in association with seagrass beds and emerge at night to forage for crustaceans and fish.
Within their mantle is a very special light organ which is used at night to cancel out their silhouette from predators on the seafloor. The organ is filled with luminescent bacteria that are trapped from the seawater by the organ.
The Bobtail Squid bury themselves in the seafloor during the day and use their second pair of arms to rake sand grains over their head and body. The entire upper surface of their skin contains two very special cell types. One acts like a glue, holding a coat of sand over the body, so that even if flushed out of the sand by a predator the sand will remain. The second are special acid cells that can be used to disconnect the entire sand coat at once, leaving it as a sinking decoy for a predator while the squid jets away.
I took this image while on a night dive in Trail Bay, Tasmania. The bobtail squid were all found in a sandy patch near the boat ramp at a depth of 1-2m.
