Recommended Citation
October 1, 2017.
Abstract
Cephalopods are the fastest growing invertebrate, often putting on 3- 5 % of their body weight each day. Due to the nature of their diet, their body mass can be up to 80% protein, offering humans an easy and fast source of protein. This offers fisheries a new option to explore. The main problem behind wild-catching Cephalopods, is the issue of where they are. This study examined retrospective larval Cephalopod samples collected from 2009-2017 to examine trends in the diversity and distribution of the larvae. Notably, some of the collected data was taken during the warm water event that started in mid 2014 and persisted through 2016, the native species Octopus rubescens exploded in number during this event, as well as members of the Family Gonatidae. Future studies should expand the distance from the continental shelf sampled, as well as the depth sampled to get a wider diversity of larval size classes.
Mentor
Eric Bjorkstedt
Lab site
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Southwest Fisheries Science Center (NOAA SWFSC)
Funding Acknowledgement
The 2017 STEM Teacher and Researcher Program and this project have been made possible through support from Chevron (www.chevron.com), the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation (www.marinesanctuary.org), the California State University Office of the Chancellor, and California Polytechnic State University, in partnership with NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center.
URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/star/428