iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

After an epic weekend of rounding up the final gear for #ProjectESCA season 2, @thomaslinley.com and I join Aurora Expeditions' MV Douglas Mawson today to start our next Antarctic squidchasing adventure!

A small x-bow expedition vessel in port in Otepoti Dunedin, awaiting its next adventure

031

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

#ProjectESCA has arrived in Dunedin to make final preparations before we sail out for Antarctica on Monday to go squidchasing. @thomaslinley.com and I are hoping this is a good omen...

061

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

T -5 days to the next voyage! Want to know the story of #ProjectESCA? @thomaslinley.com and I chatted about how we got here on the @deepseapod.com in honor of the colossal squid's 100th birthday www.deepseapod.com/episodes/056...

The #ProjectESCA team flank a life-sized plush colossal squid on a sofa in a ship lounge. A mysterious cardboard hammerhead shark hat lurks behind

0205

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Welcome to #ProjectESCA season 2! A week from tomorrow, @thomaslinley.com of the @deepseapod.com & I sail for Antarctica for 5 weeks with Aurora Expeditions, with our deep-sea camera system and a few new toys as well. With a little luck, we'll have some exciting to stories to share; stay tuned!

032

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

And a teensy glass squid (cranchiid), Liocranchia #SQXmas2025

0247

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

#SQXmas2025 continues. On the larger end of the scale, a hefty warty hooked squid, Onykia sp.

0164

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

We've had a couple of cock-eyed or jeweled squid species (family Histioteuthidae); this is a nice H. macrohista, one of the more extreme examples of tiny mantle (yes, that's the whole thing!) compared to head & arms. See also distinctive long arm-tip photophores. #SQXmas2025

085

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

This is a young Moroteuthopsis, a warty hooked squid (family Onychoteuthidae)

0105

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

This year's Squidmas samples are from sub-Antarctic waters. This is Galiteuthis, a 'glass' squid (Cranchiidae, same family the colossal squid). There are undescribed species in this genus so looking forward to genetic results! #SQXmas2025

096

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Day 1 of #SQXmas2025 started with this inspirational message

040

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 13/07/2025

Merry Squidmas Eve! Tomorrow we dive into the NIWA/Earth Sciences NZ freezers once again to discover what deep-sea cephs they've wrapped up for us. We've been very good this year so hoping for some exciting specimens! Stay tuned 🦑🐙🎁

030

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

Happy bday colossal squid! The species was described in 1925 so @deepseapod.com & I did a centenary episode on the @deepseapodcast.bsky.social - www.armatusoceanic.com/podcast/056-... 🦑🎉 Gorgeous artwork thanks to Gareth, a guest on our recent #Antarctic voyage with #IntrepidTravel for #ProjectESCA

Black-and-white ink drawing of a colossal squid holding a birthday cake

03312

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

Master Squidcrafter Heather has been at it again. Not sure #IntrepidTravel realized just what they were in for by having the #ProjectESCA team aboard--we brought a rather large stowaway! #colossalsquid @deepseapod.bsky.social @pure-ocean.bsky.social @AUTnews.bsky.social #Antarctica #deepsea

Two scientists and a full-sized stuffed colossal squid on a couch aboard a ship

12610

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

We're off! Setting sail for Antarctica to chase some squids with the #ProjectESCA camera system and @deepseapod.com, thanks to @pureocean.bsky.social and Intrepid Travel. Bring me that horizon!

A ship's bow sailing out of the Beagle Channel under moody clouds

0143

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Good thing the ones I'm after aren't usually at the beach! Beagle Channel / Tierra del Fuego National Park. (Could I pick up an urchin test or crab moult though?)

Wooden sign at a scenic beach specifically prohibiting the collecting of molluscs

030

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Ceph street art sighting! Spotted these arms on the side of a building in Ushuaia, Argentina, while out and about with @deepseapod.com as we prep to take #ProjectESCA to the Antarctic Peninsula next week

Large mural of marine life including mammals, octopus and a sea star

0122

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

Close Inkounter! #ProjectESCA gets its next squiddy visitor, a glacial squid (P. glacialis) around 800m. It gifts us a few puffs of ink, then drifts back into the dark Antarctic #deepsea. #antarcticclimateconnections #PureOceanFund @schmidtocean.bsky.social @deepseapod.com

0124

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Beautiful wee 'peachy' octopus (O. tetricus) at Kelly Tarlton's Sealife Aquarium. Some regenerating arms but pretty perky overall!

060

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

There's a lot going on with the Port Jackson shark's snoot and I'm not sure I like it. Would still boop.

141

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Cephs are clearly my main squeeze but... I saw this wobbegong today and I think I'm in love

170

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Here's a better look at the current 'peachy' octopus (O. tetricus) currently on display at Sydney Sealife Aquarium. Quite active while we were by the tank and came right up to say hi!

A mid-size octopus with alert eyes, mantle skin raised into bumps, and active arms, perched on a cylindrical pipe in an aquarium tank

2307

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Octopeace! (Octopus with split arm tip) ...sometimes in cephs, arm healing goes haywire and mini arms will regenerate where single suckers were before. Seen today on 'peachy' octopus (O. tetricus) at Sealife Sydney Aquarium

Octopus arms and suckers pressed against aquarium glass, with one arm tip split into two mini arms near the end

0294

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 28/12/2024

When your teuthologist parent uses you for scale at the beach AGAIN

13m-long giant squid drawn in the sand, with a kid at the end for scale

0418

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

And this was the #SQXmas2024 present we got most excited about at NIWA—a young Cycloteuthis, with ‘sun and moon’ photophores on the viscera in a configuration I’d never seen before. That’s a wrap for 2024—sending best fishes and squid tidings for the New Year!

A small deep-sea squid with bright white light organs in the mantle, one round and one shaped like a crescent moon

2347

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

Not a squid but hitched a ride in one—this impressive deep-sea shrimp was tucked up inside a Pholidoteuthis mantle. Can’t have been comfortable for anyone! #SQXmas2024

Bright-red deep-sea shrimp with large black eyes and a long serrated rostrum

1141

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

Merry Squidmas! A few final goodies from our visit to NIWA in late November. This is an adorable ‘piglet’ squid, Helicocranchia—it’s a glass squid (cranchiid) and would be transparent in life, but the chromatophore patterns are very distinctive in this genus. #SQXmas2024

A small, very round, red-and-white striped deep-sea 'piglet' squid

0405

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Info on every ceph species, at your fingertips? Yes please! Help us finish CephRef (live demo site cephref.org ), a new website for ceph ID & biological info. Please support on gofund.me/5e00ac9a (until Dec 20) & share the link - thank you! 🦑🐙🦑🐙

12915

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Here's another very cool 'glass' squid (cranchiid), Liguriella--very rare in collections so we were really excited to see it, especially with the eyes intact. This genus is still quite poorly understood so this is an important specimen! #SQXmas2024

A mid-size translucent deep-sea squid on a tray, with small fins, a gumdrop-shaped body and large bulging eyes

181

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Most 'glass' squids (fam. Cranchiidae) have nearly transparent bodies in life. Only the large eyes are opaque, but their silhouette is broken up by a network of light organs (the white strips visible here, on the eye of Teuthowenia pellucida) and reflectors. #SQXmas2024

A large dark blue squid eye with shiny white photophore strips and a pearly lens

093

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Closer view of the tentacular hooks on the deep-sea squid Onykia robsoni #SQXmas2024

0101

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Here's another nice hefty deep-sea squid, Onykia robsoni. Easily recognisable by the very pointy tail, round 'warts' on the mantle, and hooks on the tentacles (close-up to follow). #SQXmas2024

A large reddish-pink deep-sea squid in a tray, with bumpy skin and sharp claws on the tentacles

2265

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Not my best pic (we were processing quickly at this point) but Pholidoteuthis specimens always have this strange near-complete abrasion of the skin on the fins, plus their distinctive nubbly skin. #SQXmas2024

A large deep-sea squid with bumpy purple skin and abraded white fins, head and arms

081

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Here's a beautiful southern flying squid, Todarodes filippovae. Squid Squad member Sam Clough is studying this species' diet in Aotearoa New Zealand to help us figure out its role in local trophic webs. #SQXmas2024

A large slender dark purple-red squid with large round suckers on the tentacle clubs

1152

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Enoploteuthis (and all others in its family) have hooks on the tentacle clubs and arms. While these are small in absolute terms, they're relatively huge--on a colossal squid they would be about 7cm long! #SQXmas2024

Large curved claws on a deep-sea squid tentacle

04510

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

A nice Enoploteuthis galaxias, cousin of the Japanese firefly squid (Watasenia scintillans). All the dots on the mantle, head and arms are photophores that counterilluminate the squid and break up its silhouette when viewed from below. #SQXmas2024

081

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

This is Octopoteuthis rugosa--the two 'windows' over two photophores at the mantle tip give it away, a character recognised by Squid Squad alum Jesse Kelly in his recent review of the family openrepository.aut.ac.nz/handle/10292... #SQXmas2024

A defrosted deep-sea squid specimen with large fins and hooks on the arms, about 20cm long

060

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

We started at the small end of the scale with some adorable young Spirula. This is the 'ram's horn squid', one species worldwide, which makes a calcareous white spiral shell that can be found washed up on many beaches. #SQXmas2024

Two small egg-shaped cephalopods each 2-3 cm long

2183

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Here's a tantalising glimpse of someone I think might turn out to be quite exciting at #SQXmas2024 . Anyone want to guess? The chromatophore patterns are pretty distinctive...

040

AUT Squid Squad @autsquidsquad.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Hello Bluesky 👋 We'll kick off this account by live-posting our current #Squidmas party--stay tuned as we we open exciting mystery boxes of frozen deep-sea squidsicles recently collected on research voyages by New Zealand's National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research (NIWA)! #SQXmas2024

1122