A diver exploring the west coast of Norway a few years ago suddenly encountered unexplained blobs that are over 3-feet-wide hovering halfway between the seafloor and the surface. DNA analysis revealed that it was filled with squid mucus and hundreds of thousands of squid embryos of a common squid called Illex coindetii.
Since 1985, nearly 100 similar blob sightings have been reported in Norway and the Mediterranean Sea. The ball of squid mucus have a few years ago has a dark streak passed through its center, but otherwise, it looks transparent and featureless.
Ball of Squid Mucus Show Squid Embryos in Four Different Stages
The study, entitled "In situ recordings of large gelatinous spheres from NE Atlantic, and the first genetic confirmation of egg mass of Illex coindetii (Vérany, 1839) (Cephalopoda, Mollusca)" published on March 30 in the journal Scientific Reports, described the blobs as balls of squid mucus filled with hundreds of thousands of squid eggs.
This is the first time that scientists have identified the squid's egg sacs in the wild although it is widely known for over 180 years that I. coindetii squid species live around the Mediterranean and both sides of the Atlantic.
The balls of squid mucus are continuously getting bigger and expanding the space between the squid eggs inside it. The researchers said that the squid mucus contains squid embryos that are at four different stages of development.
"We also got to see what's inside the actual sphere, showing squid embryos at four different stages," marine zoology organization Sea Snack Norway manager and lead study author Halldis Ringvold told Live Science.
"In addition, we could follow how the sphere actually changes consistency - from a firm and transparent to rupturing and opaque - as the embryos develop," he added.
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Camouflage Mechanism of Squid's Ink
Divers came through with tissue samples from four different blobs that they put in bottles and stored in home refrigerators to conduct DNA analysis. The samples they collected included a gooey body of blobs and squid embryos at different stages of development.
DNA analysis confirmed that the four blobs contained I.coindetii squid eggs. But the team writes that they cannot confirm that all the blobs contain embryos of the same species but that the blobs are all very similar in shape and size, Eminetra reported.
Moreover, researchers said that the dark streaks that run through many of the balls of squid mucus could be the ink that the squids released when the egg is fertilized.
The researchers wrote that the inked and non-inked spheres could be the result of embryos at different stages and that after they develop, the entire sphere will collapse.
They also said that the ink could also be a kind of camouflage mechanism that mimics large fish to ward off potential predators.
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