often called the jumbo or the Humboldt squid. This squid supports the largest invertebrate fishery in the world and serves as a key forage species across its range, which has recently been expanding northward. Once a relatively infrequent visitor to California, the jumbo squid has become a full-time resident, and has been making excursions into Canadian and Alaskan waters.
Members of the Gilly lab are interested in every aspect of the biology of this important species, about which little is known. Our projects tackle its ecology, dispersal, behavior, genetics, and development. We are also exploring the changing oceanographic features of its environment.
Concurrently, other avenues of research continue the long-standing neurophysiological tradition of the lab. These projects focus on systems more amenable to laboratory study than the jumbo squid, such as newts and cone snails.
