Where they went in the meantime, no one knows. But, after an absence of four decades, reef squid again started nosing around Hawaiian waters this summer. Return of the squid
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Scientists call the tentacled animals Sepioteuthis lessoniana, and Hawaiians called them mu he'e. A batch have been hatched at the Waikiki Aquarium and you can call the squidlings what you want.
As long as you don't call them late for dinner. Each squidling is already gulping down 20 fish a day. According to aquarium officials, squids are very difficult to raise in captivity and also have short lifespans. But it's a colorful life.
"These creatures have an amazing ability to change colors, almost instantaneously," points out Aquarium director Bruce Carlson. "Thousands of color cells in the skin are individually controlled by the nervous system to produced a bewildering array of patterns that may communicate aggression, courtship and feeding signals to other nearby squid."
Fully grown, Hawaiian reef squid only grow to about 14 inches long. Other species of squid can become giants of the deep. It's not known if the return of the reef squid is a permanent move or whether it'll be decades before they're seen again, said Carlson.
The Waikiki Aquarium, administered by the University of Hawaii, is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Information: 923-9741.
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