Café Scientifique: Squidology 102 – the real weirdos (May 2022) – A/Prof Kat Bolstad

Описание: [apologies for the flickering - we were using a new camera and didn't account for the pulse frequency of the venue lights]

Café Scientifique 25 May 2022
Squidology 102: The real weirdos (aka Giant Squid are sooooo 2019)
Associate Professor Kat Bolstad, School of Science, Auckland University of Technology

Squidologist and director of the AUT Lab for Cephalopod Ecology & Systematics (ALCES) Associate Professor Kat Bolstad is back for another Café Scientifique!

The salty waters around Aotearoa New Zealand are home to a great diversity of cephalopods—in fact, we have one of the highest diversities of squids and octopuses in the world. We also find new species here on a regular basis. Come on a squishy evening adventure to find out who’s here (and who’s not) and how to recognise them and meet some rather large deep-sea squids that are just as cool as the giant squid (maybe cooler!) but even more mysterious.

Kat’s August 2019 Café Scientifique (Beautiful cephalopods: From the teeny tiny to the colossal, and everything in between) left us all wanting more, so she very kindly agreed to come back. She joined AUT as a PhD candidate in 2003, emigrating from the US to pursue a research career focusing on cephalopods (squids, octopuses, and their relatives). Prior to her work at AUT, Kat worked with the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.) and the New England Aquarium in Boston, MA.

She now also collaborates with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Kat's main research focus remains with cephalopods of all sizes, primarily deep-sea squids. She has examined over 30 giant squid specimens and several colossal squid, several of which have aired worldwide as live-streamed online events. She has also participated in documentaries and dived in submersibles to depths of 1000m in the Antarctic.

This café was brought to you by the Auckland Museum Institute, Auckland branch of the Royal Society Te Apārangi. Events like this are only possible through the support of our members and donations received. If you’d like to join the institute head online to: https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/your-m... or email [email protected].

Our thanks go to our presenter, Associate Professor Kat Bolstad, and to our MC and convenor/video producer Scott Pilkington.

To join our mailing list: https://gmail.us5.list-manage.com/sub...

Follow Kat’s research on GoogleScholar: https://scholar.google.co.nz/citation...
Check out the ALCES website: https://www.aut.ac.nz/study/study-opt...
Follow the ALCES lab on Twitter:   / alcesonline  
Follow the AMI on Facebook: www.facebook.com/AucklandMuseumInstitute
Check out other videos Scott's been involved in:    / @spil030  

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Want to know more about squids?
Short videos:
• Taningia flashing its large photophores https://twitter.com/schmidtocean/stat... and a large specimen recently examined in NZ https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=947...
• ‘Strawberry’/’cock-eyed’ squid Histioteuthis with the asymmetrical eyes    • Fluorescence in the deep-sea squid Histiot...  
• Vampire squid, detritivore of the deep    • What the vampire squid really eats  
• Atlas Obscura feature about the colossal squid https://www.atlasobscura.com/videos/a...

Other resources mentioned / recommended by Kat:
• Article about mating with whomever you can find in the deep sea: ‘A shot in the dark: same-sex sexual behaviour in a deep-sea squid’ https://www.researchgate.net/publicat...
• 2x Ologies podcast episodes about teuthology (squid science): https://www.alieward.com/ologies/teut... and https://www.alieward.com/ologies/teut...

Twitter accounts you can follow:
•   / alcesonline   AUT Squid Squad - they’ll be posting about “Squid Christmas” in early June as it happens including examining a ‘small’ (60kg) giant squid
•   / schmidtocean   – Deep-sea exploration organisation
•   / cefafalopodo   – European ceph scientist Dr Fernando Fernandez-Alvarez
•   / sarahmackattack   – US squidologist & sci commer Dr Sarah MacAnulty (our second favourite squidologist)

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Time stamps:
00:00 admin & preview of upcoming events
04:25 introduction & mihimihi
06:20 Squidology 101 revision
10:07 cat claws and light organs – making sense of Taningia
19:53 stealth lights & odd sized eyes – getting a look at Histioteuthidae
25:20 piglets, glass, and colossal squids – who are the Cranchiidae?
31:29 squiz answers
37:48 conclusion & end credits