Recent News
Siblings share a passion for animalsFriday, July 26, 2013
A passion for animals led siblings Peter and Kate Cooper to become volunteers with the Bermuda Zoological Society.
Baby 'pygmy' sperm whale found dead
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
What is believed to be a baby pygmy sperm whale was found washed up dead in the shallows off Nonsuch Island.
Kids on the Reef returns for a third year
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Dr Sterrer to give a lecture on Island’s biodiversity
Thursday, July 11, 2013
A local natural history expert will explore some of the miraculous ways that Bermuda’s plants and animals found their way to the Island, tomorrow evening at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI).
Kids on the Reef returns for a third year
Monday, July 08, 2013
On the way out to North Rock the young people in the boat started to wonder why they had come. Despite having lived on an Island their whole lives, most of them had never been out of sight of land. They were nervous and spent the ride worrying about currents, sharks, the weather, and the depth of the ocean.
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Latest News
All the latest updates and news from the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo, one of Bermuda's leading visitor attractions!
By Jonathan Bell
Published Mar 28, 2015 at 8:00 am (Updated Mar 28, 2015 at 12:50 am)
A screen grab from Choy Aming's Facebook newsfeed that shows the deep sea squid
A squid carcass several feet long that washed up at a beach in Southampton looked so alive that diver Choy Aming had to check to make sure.
The four-foot squid was spotted yesterday morning by his friend Travis Lewis, who was working on decking at The Reefs hotel.
“The body was so fresh that when I hosed it off, the tentacles kept sticking to my hand,” Mr Aming said.
“At first I gave it a little wiggle just to see if it would move; it was that fresh.”
The diamondback squid, Thysanoteuthis rhombus, had probably died that morning. The body retained its distinctive red pigment.
“I knew they exist in the area, but I’ve never seen one,” he said.
“The egg sac is about three or four feet long and looks like a purple slinky — a lot of time out whale watching I have run across them in the water.”
The squid’s red colour indicates that it lives in deep water, Mr Aming said, explaining that redness is a common trait of deep sea creatures, as red is one of the first colours to disappear as light filters into the sea.
“It was probably 40 pounds. It took the two of us to carry it off.” Mr Lewis subsequently drove the squid to the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo for study.
The animals, which are so-called for their shape, frequent depths of around 160ft, but are known to come up near the surface at night. Diamondback squid are found around the world in tropical or subtropical waters.