unknown pelagic egg mass

Just found images on the web from egg mass of Cephalopod, genus Gonatus:

http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/2239/2005-12-17/148@288083.htm

these again look different from the ones in the Tsuchiya & Yamamoto book and different from the Sabay.

Guido,

I love the Japanese series even if the books are in Japanese! But why would they include the "sabay" if it wasn't produced by a cephalopod?

Did you look at the TOL site for Thysanoteuthis rhombus? http://tolweb.org/tree?group=Thysanoteuthis_rhombus

It has a photo of an egg mass very similar to yours, one of embryos taken from a similar egg mass, and a reference to this paper (you probably have the journal): Suzuki, S., H. Misaki and T. Okutani. 1979. Studies on early life history of decapodan Mollusca. VIII. A supplementary note on floating egg mass of Thysanoteuthis rhombus Troschel in Japan - The first underwater photography. Venus 38: 153-155. Maybe that will help make up your mind.

Cheers, Leslie

William - you're a very gracious winner

Leslie,

a thousand thanks.

Was looking at this homepage you mention earlier already and the photographs of enlarged eggs put already doubt in my mind.

Just checked your reference to the Venus and indeed, there is no doubt in my mind anymore. Definitely the Sabay are Thysanotheuthis or related species eggs.

Now move all our images from category.....

That's great. With your post & the ongoing discussion we continue to add more information useful for anyone who loves the oceans & all it's creatures, big & small.

Fascinating thread, great to see good stuff in here

Yes, I'm glad that my "not knowing the previous topic" at least led to the identification, thanks to Leslie. Many thanks to wetpixels.com: it was very frustrating not knowing what this big thing was.

For all, on our homepage the pictures have been moved in Squids.