Squid

One of the biggest adventures of the Maine shore exploration was that Dale spotted a squid. This was amazing: neither Fred nor Michael had ever seen a squid before, and that is really saying something, because Fred is a local naturalist and Michael is a diver. Here is the pretty thing… orange with purple spots!

Uncle Fred quickly snatched it up, which surprised the heck out of Dale; that wouldn’t be my first instinct, either, but Fred is a very interactive guy. He somehow held onto it while it whipped its tentacles this way and that trying to break free.

Michael asked to hold it, and while Fred was trying to pass the squid to Michael, the squid bit Fred. Surprise! It hurt, and he dropped it, but Fred was not harmed. The squid somehow landed on a crab, so that when Michael snatched it up again, he had a bundle of writhing squid-crab craziness.

Fred thinks this was a “boreal squid,” though those are native to the Pacific, and we were on the Atlantic at the time. Whatever it was, it was very exciting!