I am learning about Loligo opalescens it is a magnificent creature, but there are not that many of them. They are very shy, and they will spit out ink if it feels threatened. If I could I would like to see this type of squid up close.

 

L. opalescens starts out as an egg. The mother L. opalescens would most likely lay her eggs on a sandy bottom. She would lay her eggs 10-50m deep from the surface of the ocean. The eggs take 3-8 weeks to hatch, though warmer water will shorten their time to hatch.

 

The enemy of a L. opalescens is a bat star. A bat star will eat the eggs. Fish don't care much for the eggs but they will nibble on them. As the L. opalenscens hatches they immediately starts to swim. Imagine if the second you were born you could swim! At 2 months of age, they are strong enough to swim in shoals.

 

L. opalescens is a beautiful creature as it swims up on the shoals. You could find them along California sometimes they are in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean from Baja, or from Mexico to Alaska. As an adult they can be found at the depth of 500m deep!

 

I had lots of fun learning about this creature and learning about it. I always thought that L. opalenscens were just like any other squid, but they have more to life than a regular squid. I thought it was cool learning about a loligo opalenscens.

 

Author: Ashley C

Published: 02/2008

 

Sources: www.the phalopodpage.org/lopal.php-11k http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loligo_opalescens Photo Credit: Photographed by: toddography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Logilo_cc.jpg