Squid Dissection

Thursday, March 4th Evening Activity
Post by: Nick Grille

Last night we did a squid dissection for our evening activity. First Joe told us some general information about the classification of squid: Phylum Molluska, Class Cephlopodia. We then brainstormed questions that we had about squid that we could attempt to answer or deduce from our dissection. One thing that I learned was that when you rub the mantle of the squid it changes colors as they have chromatophores (color cells) that expand and contract when stimulated. These are controlled by the squid's nervous system. Why? Well, one reason is for communication with other squid to signal advancing predators and also to attract mates. The squid is able to signal differently from either side.

After drawing and labeling the external anatomy of the squid, we made our first incision - up the mantle. I was partnered with Dylan and while I held the squid he made the first cut. As we opened the mantle we revealed the ink sac, which we removed. It was a small sac almost sewn into the skin. Then we removed the gills, which we placed in water allowing us to see how they feather - increasing their surface area for oxygen absorption. This feature allowed us to deduce that they must be active creatures. We also located the heart located between the two gills. As well, we found the beak in the center of its arms and removed this along with the squid's radula (spiky tongue for mechanical digestion). The dissection and surrounding discussion were both interesting.