Summary PROJECT INACTIVE

Market Squid (Doryteuthis opalescens) are ecologically important as both predators and prey, and they support one of the largest fisheries in California. These animals deposit their eggs in clusters on the sandy seafloor, usually between 20 and 70 m deep, but the detailed factors that determine exactly when and where they deposit their egg clusters and the factors that determine how well the embryos survive during development in the egg capsules are poorly understood. This project uses towed cameras, time-lapse cameras installed on the sea floor, and repeat visits to specific egg clusters by ROV to evaluate how physical processes such as egg capsule dislodgement by strong surge, burial by shifting sand, or naturally-occurring periods of inundation by hypoxic (low oxygen) water, influence the growth and survival of squid embryos in the field.

Student Involvement

Two graduate students and 12 undergraduates have been involved in this project to date.

Broader Significance

In addition to providing much needed information about the basic reproductive biology of an economically important commercial fishery species in California, this work contributes to our basic understanding of the physical processes that affect the abundance and distribution of benthic (bottom dwelling) marine organisms. In addition, the technology being developed by students to conduct this work is giving those students marketable technical skills while providing IfAME/EEL with an increasingly versatile set of tools for conducting benthic ecological research.