Squid DIEsection

           On this Thursday, I had fun dissecting a rather familiar invertebrate; the squid. Personally, I thought I knew a lot about squids. I eat them, cook them, roast them, and even eat them raw like sushi. As it turns out, all the squids that my family was buying all had been handled; I had never seen all those inside parts in my 10 years of squid handling experience. In otherwords, I was able to meet the objectives of this lab; locating and understanding the different functions of the squid.

Through this lab, I got to examine the external and internal organs of a squid. When I first learned about the phylum Mollusca, I was shocked to see a squid as one of them – I always thought the squid had soft, slimy bodies. However, when I was dissecting the internal of the squid, I was successfully able to figure out why even “cephalopods” are considered in the phylum Mollusca and why they are coined “head-foot”. Two of the biggest traits of the phylum Mollusca are that they have shells and a muscular foot. Internally, I was able to see a squid’s pen, a hard shell like structure that helps attach the squid’s organs. Externally, I was able to spot out that the muscular foot evolved to tentacles and arms to fit more suitably to their environment. Also, I was able to clearly see the squid’s eyes that are specially developed for hunting down prey.(My grandmother always used to eat it… yuck)

This lab was really helpful to me in two major ways. First, it obviously educated me to a new level of biological experience. However, secondly, through this lab I realized that even a tasty and weird looking creature like a squid has fascinating, and an organized structure. I personally think “dissection” labs are one of the best types of lab that I have ever had. I really hope to do more in future.       

1. A squid has 2 arms, and 8 tentacles

(Credits to Alan Zhong)
2. A squid's arm and tentacles function differ.
A squid's tentacle has suckers attached to it which
captures prey, and a squid's arm makes sure the prey
cannot escape

3. The energy force of the squid is called "jet propulsion"
The squid will move away from the force. Hence "water
goes this way" and "squid goes this way"

4. There are two external features that are adaptations for squid's
predatory life. These are the Eyes of the squid and the Tentacles
and Arms of the squid. The eyes of a squid is highly developed
for spotting and for hunting prey, and the arms&tentacles of a
squid are essential for a squid as both parts are extremely
well-suited for hunting prey.

5. The two general traits of molluscs were the
Visceral Mass, and the Feet that evolved from
the normal foot of a mollusc.

1. A squid has 1 pair of gills, a total number
of two.

2. The ink sac empties into the water, which
is primarily used for disrupting, and surprising
a prey or a predator.

3. The function of a squid's pen is to hold together
the muscles of a squid. 

4. I think that the wastes exit the squid through
the squid's anus.