Citizen science has become a popular way of bringing public communities and scientific research closer. Together with Dr Gavan Cooke, I co-founded the ‘Cephalopod Citizen Science Project‘ in 2017 to connect researchers investigating cephalopod ecology with public stakeholders interested in cephalopods, such as the SCUBA diving community or fishermen. Primarily using social media based platforms, our project not only aimed at helping divers to understand how to best interact with cephalpods in the wild, but we also used their photo and video material provided to describe novel insights in the life history and behaviour of UK cephalopod species. Through the project, for example, I was able to source video and photo material of cuttlefish social aggregations along the British South coast. These observations demonstrated for the first time that cuttlefish, although assumed to be strictly asocial cephalopods, aggregate for non-reproductive reasons, and even display distinct shoaling formations (Drerup & Cooke, 2021). By mapping the spatiotemporal occurrence of these grouping events, I was able to determine a tentative link between their social grouping behaviour and their autumnal migration to deeper offshore waters, thereby describing a previously unknown behavioural strategy in these animals.
Sadly, the ‘Cephalopod Citizen Science Project‘ is now terminated due to other commitments.
Key references:
- Laptikhovsky V., Cooke G., Drerup C., Jackson A., MacLeod E., Robin J.-P., Sheerin E., Power A.-M. & Pierce G.J. (2023) Spatial and temporal variability of common cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis, L. spawning grounds off North Europe. Fisheries Research 263, 106688. Doi: 10.1016/j.fishres.2023.106688
- Barrett C.J., Bensbai J., Broadhurst M.K., Bustamante P., Clark R., Cooke G.M., Di Cosmo A., Drerup C., Escolar O., Fernández-Álvarez F.A., Ganias K., Hall K.C., Hanlon R.T., Hernández-Urcera J., Hua Q.Q.H., Lacoue-Labarthe T., Lewis J., Lishchenko F., Maselli V., Moustahfid H., Nakajima R., O’Brien C.E., Parkhouse L., Pengelly S., Pierce G.J., Ramírez J.G., Robin J.P., Sajikumar K.K., Sasikumar G., Smith C.L., Villanueva R. & Yến D.T.H. (2022) Cuttlefish conservation: a global review of methods to ameliorate unwanted fishing mortality and other anthropogenic threats to sustainability. ICES Journal of Marine Science 79, 2579–2596. Doi: 10.1093/icesjms/fsac200
- Laptikhovsky V., Allcock A.L., Barnwall L., Barrett C., Cooke G., Drerup C., Firmin C., Lozach S., MacLeod E., Oesterwind D., Petroni M., Robin J.-P., Sheerin E., Power A.-M. & Pierce G.J. (2022) Spatial and temporal variability of spawning and nursery grounds of Loligo forbesii and Loligo vulgaris squids in ecoregions of Celtic Seas and Greater North Sea. ICES Journal of Marine Science 79, 1918-1930. Doi: 10.1093/icesjms/fsac128
- Laptikhovsky V., Cooke G., Barrett C., Lozach S., MacLeod E., Oesterwind D., Sheerin E., Petroni M., Barnwall L., Robin J.-P., Allcock L. & Power A.-M. (2021) Identification of benthic egg masses and spawning grounds in commercial squid in the English Channel and Celtic Sea: Loligo vulgaris vs L. forbesii. Fisheries Research 241, 106004. Doi: 10.1016/j.fishres.2021.106004
- Drerup C. & Cooke G.M. (2021) Shoaling behaviour in the European cuttlefish Sepia officinalis. Ethology 127, 1101-1108. Doi: 10.1111/eth.13226
- Drerup C., Jackson A., Rickard C., Skea M. & Cooke G.M. (2021) Field observations on the behavioural ecology of the stout bobtail squid Rossia macrosoma (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae) from Scottish waters. Marine Biodiversity 51, 57. Doi: 10.1007/s12526-021-01202-y
Christian Drerup 