Interesting Article In Cay Compass News On Reefs Squids

Editor's Note

Here is a very nice article giving goog and simple information on the Carribean Reef Squid. Enjoy...

Caribbean Reef Squid (Sepioteuthis sepioidea) live in the ocean waters of Florida, Bahamas and the Caribbean. Squid are commonly found in groups of about 4 –30 in the shallows associated with reefs.

It lives in waters to approximately 100 meters.

The habitat of reef squid changes according to the squid’s stage of life and size. The small squid typically gather together in shallow turtle grass near islands and remain within two meters from the surface to avoid bird predators. They also do not dwell on the ocean floor because of possible snapper predation. At night however, they often will swim to deeper waters and hunt with older, larger squid. When mating, adults are found near coral reefs in shallower depths.

Squid are in the Class Cephalopoda and are molluscs: they are closely related to the cuttlefish and octopus and more distantly to the snails, clams, oysters, and sea slugs.
Like all squid, Caribbean Reef Squid have eight arms and two longer tentacles that flow behind their body as they swim by expelling water from a mantle cavity with a water–jet action. All 10 appendages of the squid are "fixed to its head", and are arranged in a circle around the mouth. Compared to the overall body, squid’s eyes are strikingly large. The have the largest eye to body ratio in the entire animal kingdom.