Cuttlefish eggs
Olle Åkesson
Living Seas Officer
The Sussex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority carries out a series of surveys at Rye Harbour Nature reserve. The surveys investigate small and juvenile fish populations and this time we caught something really interesting.
Cuttlefish eggs are often called sea-grapes as they are laid in bunches and really do look like a bunch of black grapes. Cuttlefish attach the eggs to static objects, often seaweed or rocks. Sometimes wind, wave and tides cause the eggs to come lose and you can see the bunches washed up on the beach. Unfortunately, unless the eggs are returned to the sea they will usually dry out and die.
When we hauled in the net we found a couple of these lose drifting bunches and one of them had eggs that were very near to hatching. Some of the eggs in the bunch were so developed you could see the baby cuttlefish through the translucent eggs.
The eggs were placed in an aerated bucket before returning to the sea. While they were in the bucket some of the eggs began to hatch. Cuttlefish display some amazing behaviour, raising two tentacles in a ‘v’ shape when they feel threatened or hunting, changing colour and squirting ink as a decoy to predators. It was amazing to see these tiny cuttlefish, less than a centimetre long, behave just like their adult counterparts.
Cuttlefish are incredibly charismatic and interesting animals. It was an absolute treat that we got to see these little tiny animals hatch.
Newly hatched cuttlefish
Comments
I found a couple of bunches of these on West Wittering Beach a week ago. I really did think they were grapes and didn’t bother photographing them. Gutted to know that I missed out!
28 Aug 2015 11:45:39
I occasionally find them on the beach in the summer. If they are well developed I often take them home and hatch them in a specially set up aquarium. The water has to be very well oxygenated and kept cool. The newly hatched cuttlefish are amazing, they can change colour and squirt ink. In fact they often turn black to mimic the eggs when they first hatch.
I keep them for a couple of weeks, feeding them on live brine shrimp before releasing them back into the sea. The eggs don’t always hatch, it depends on how often they have been washed up on the beach before I find them, but I know if I leave them on the beach there is a good chance they will never hatch.
I have been doing this on and off for about 30 years.
26 Feb 2016 13:56:29
Just found several “bunches” on the shore near Ferring. Very black, not yet translucent. I first thought they were the male organs of a seaweed but realised it was unlikely – somehow they were were too black! Now I know – thanks!
03 Jul 2016 16:10:58
Saw a few bunches of these today on Greatstone beach. Thanks for solving the mystery of what they were!
24 Jul 2016 18:51:30