Motherhood on the Reefs

About a month ago I had the privelage and luck to find a single Broadclub Cuttlefish (Sepia latimanus) at a dive site here in Palau. I shot a lot of footage of it and vowed to go back as soon as possible, which I did, it was still there, and if anything had grown. Great news I thought but again was determined to go back again as soon as possible.

It was a calm, bright, sunny day here as I jumped in the water and swam in the direction of my favourite subject, and as I was slowly finning over the reef my mind wanderered and my imagination started to formulate possibilities.

What if the lone cephalopod wasn't alone anymore? What if somehow it had found a partner?

I told myself not to dream and to concerntrate on actually finding it first.

So I arrived at the site, and it was there in exactly the same position but then I see as I swim around a coral head another! I can't beleive it! Two of my favourite animals right there for me to observe and film, but it didn't stop there....

Because as I continued to watch, keeping my distance so as not to disturb them I noticed that one was behaving differently, bunching it's tentacles up underneath itself in an almost puckering fashion, then relaxing, colour changing, stretching out the tentacles before swimming in my direction to a large coral head, there it hovered over an area, before moving to another and, there I realised that it was in fact a she and she was laying eggs! I couldn't believe my luck, not only had the local population doubled since my last visit, the population could potentially explode and here I was as it was happening!

The process was mesmorising, and followed a set pattern each time and in the 77 minutes that I was there watching and filming she laid over 15 egg masses.

The process was repeated over and over: the female "puckering", the colour change and stretch, the move to the coral head, the choice of the site, the production of egg in tentacles (pictured pale mass in tentacles), deposition, then dramatic colour change and move back to near where the male was waiting at which time the male had a colour change and held his tentacles in a lopsided fashion. Over and over again I watched the process.

According to literature it takes (in captivity) 55 days for the eggs to mature and the juveniles to swim free. The couple will mate possibly twice during this time and there could be 3 laying events. According to the literature the female dies once the eggs have hatched......but her sacrafice has bought new life to the reef.

Richard

photoshop@fishnfins.com
richardwbrooks@hotmail.com
http://www.lightningstrikeproductions.co.uk/

Distant Cousins

Spot the difference time; two quick clips of truly fascinating animals that you can see whilst SCUBA diving in Palau; the Chambered Nautilus and the Octopus both from the cephalopod family.
Found throughout the western tropical Pacific and Indo-Pacific; Nautilus inhabit the deep, dark abyssal areas in near total darkness. They have fantastically well developed senses of taste and smell to help them locate prey and carrion. They join the incredible biomass of other animals that make the vertical migration each night from depths of 300m or more to shallower waters of 100m following the food chain. It is possible to catch them in traps as they come up by using a steel cage and a dead chicken, gross I know but they love it. The cage is bought up to recreational diving limits in the morning and it gives us the lucky few a chance to dive with them.

The Octopus is another incredible animal, intelligent, capable of puzzle solving and with 8 arms a mutitasking brain. I filmed these two late afternoon at 20m as they were "getting to know each other better" The male extends out a tentacle and deposits a package of sperm inside the female's mantle whilst giving an amazing display of skin colour and texture changes. The Octopus has lost it's external shell and now uses camouflage and an extremely flexible body to avoid predation. A good way to locate one is to look for discarded bivalve shells around their dens, they just throw out the dinner plates!

Whats even more incredible is that they are both related to your common garden snail!