Unusual Beach Find

As a former Sea Turtle Specialist patrolling the beaches of Boca at dawn, I always had a first look and was fascinated by the variety and oddity of animals and objects that would wash up on the shore. Now as a Program Interpreter, I don’t always have the opportunity to explore our beaches everyday or see what interesting things wash up.

Imagine my surprise when on Tuesday, June 10th, a lifeguard brought us a strange looking squid that washed up on Spanish River beach in the early morning. While we did not know whether this animal was actually a squid, it was obviously a cephalopod, a class of mollusc that includes squids and octopi. After a thorough inspection of body morphology the animal was identified as a Violet Blanket Octopus (Tremoctopus v. violaceus), a pelagic octopus found in the open ocean feeding on fish and large plankton.

Since the octopus was no longer alive, biologists dissected the animal for specimens to use for educational purposes.

Submitted by Program Interpreter, Evan Orellana