The Florida Freshwater Squid
An Overview of History, Habits, and Human Interaction (including such related phenomena as the annual Festival of the Freshwater Squid)
When I emerge from the narrow alleys formed by the crafts show stands, I am confronted by a ten-armed whirling dervish, a squid-themed amusement park ride borrowed by the town council from the county fair. The arm spokes end in carriages for the many tourists who like to be turned into centrifugal jelly.
Supersaturated with squid images, I retire to the Mayfly Saloon for a beer. The saloon is just beginning to fill up with festival memorabilia, from photographs to flags to bumper stickers. The walls are painted in the kind of palm tree mural motif more appropriate for a Jimmy Buffet concert, but you get the sense that in another 20 years the Mayfly Saloon will be as much a shrine to the squid as a passable eatery and bar.
As I sit there, I marvel at the level of identification with the squid displayed by many of the festival attendees throughout the day. There is no Manatee Festival, no Scrub Jay Festival, no Panther Festival, even though these animals, on the verge of extinction, deserve the attention. Yet the mayfly squid has its own festival. Perhaps helped along by the beer, I am tempted to attribute this sense of community to the squid’s own sense of community, or to the way its short life cycle forces us to contemplate our own mortality, but I think the real answer is much more cynical: someone found a clever way to promote a summer party for in-state tourists, achieving a level of success in popularizing the squid that the Davids brothers, with their squidmills, could not.[32]
Outside, as the long afternoon shadows fade into dusk, the day concludes much as it began for mayor Scott Thomas and the other town officials: they are performing an official act, this time bringing the festival to a close. Thomas and about 50 stalwarts, including Townsend and balladeer Cruikshanks, have gathered lakeside to sing songs and light candles. The Sebring Children’s Museum, the official sponsor of the sing-along, has thoughtfully provided both a DJ and a banjo player. The air is again cooler and full of mosquitoes. The lake is dark and still. In the morning, the first of the dead mayfly squid males will wash up on the very shore that the mayor now solemnly presides over.
The Future of the Mayfly Squid
In 1997, researchers confirmed the presence of mayfly squid in Georgia. By 1999, mayfly squid had been reported as far west as Louisiana’s Mississippi River Delta. Estimates of Florida’s freshwater squid population range from 150,000 to 400,000, but all researchers agree that the squid’s population is increasing almost as dramatically as its range. Considering the dynamic nature of Florida’s environment, subject to ever increasing pollution and loss of wetlands, it is remarkable that the mayfly squid continues to thrive. (Recent research[33] indicates that one reason may be the ability of the squid’s nerves to neutralize the harmful effects of such substances as mercury.)
The mayfly squid could become a pest species due to overpopulation or, in its new range, encounter a native species on which it has a negative impact, but no hard evidence exists to indicate that Fons volatilis will do anything more or less than continue to adapt inobtrusively to its environment. As Rebecca Chapman once wrote, “the squid is most memorable for its subtlety.” (36)
©2001 by Mark Roberts
End Notes
1. Jeffries, David. 1932. A Report on the Origins of New Cephalopod Discoveries. In Cephalopod Quarterly. 98(3), p. 22.
2. Hambly, Bruce. 1984. Results of a Two-Year Study of the Introduced Species “Mayfly Squid.” Florida Department of Environmental Protection Report, Series #84-0139, p. 14.
3. Kennedy, Ann. 2001. Points of Interest. AAA Tourbook: Florida, p. 83 (sidebar article).
4. Brooke, Keith. 2000. The Natural Beauty of Florida: Hiking, Festivals, and More. Pineapple Press, p. 232.
5. Bernhardt, Linda. 1973. The Edith Johnson Legacy. In Journal of Ornithological Studies. 120 (7), p. 216.
6. Johnson, Edith. 1920. The Strange World of the Freshwater Squid. Vigil Science Press, p. 10.
7. Crawford, Henry. 1939. Suwannee Sunset: Collected Essays and Letters. Southern Heritage Press, p. 157.
8. Landrell, Michael. 1918. A Five-Year Study on the Effects of Industry on State Waterways. Fish and Game Commission Report 34, p. 41.
9. Peters, John. 1920. An Analysis of Silt Levels in Strategically-Located Florida Rivers, HQUSACE Publication Bulletin #ER 25-3-20.
10. Johnson, Edith. 1921. Mysteries of the Freshwater Squid Revealed. Vigil Science Press, p. 43.
