iTag

Squid are ecologically important marine invertebrates that play a key role in many aquatic ecosystems and fisheries. Quantifying in situ squid movements, energetics, and habitat use provides important insight into the ecology of these key taxa. However, due in part to the inherent challenges of monitoring squid in their natural marine environment, fine-scale behavioral observations of these pelagic, soft-bodied animals are rare. Bio-logging tags provide an emerging way to remotely study squid behavior in their natural environments. Our lab, in collaboration with the University of Michigan and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, developed a novel, high-resolution bio-logging tag (iTag), for soft-bodied invertebrates, that measures temperature, light, depth, acceleration, and orientation. This combination of sensing, classification, and estimation will enable the quantification of organismal activity patterns in the wild to provide new biological information, such as identification of behavioral states, temporal patterns, habitat requirements, energy expenditure, and community interactions.

In 2017-18 we tested this tag in the lab and the field, tagging local longfin squid. In May 2019, our team went to Faial, Azores to deploy our the iTag bio-logging tags on captive and wild L. forbesi. In total, 11 wild L. forbesi were tagged, and every tag was retrieved.  We collected novel data showing diel movements, including fine-scale vertical movement data depicting how squid compensate for their negative buoyancy.  Multiple animals were also tagged in the Flying Sharks Aquarium, helping inform tag attachment methods and ground-truth the field data.