Kelly Tarlton's cephalopod aquarium

This is a moment that a typical biologist does not get to experience very often: returning their research specimens back to their natural environment.

 Philip Turnbull, PhD student from the University of Auckland, is not a typical biologist. After caring for his cephalopod friends for so long, he is reluctant for dispose of them so casually, and has taken the extra steps to secure their future. He has forged a collaboration with staff from Auckland's Kelly Tarlton's SeaLife Aquarium, who have graciously agreed to adopt the 4 squid that remain after Phil's research project.

Today, Phil couriered his specimens in a large bucket of water to their new home. Always one to do it in style, motorists on Tamaki Drive may have seen Phil cradling his charges on the front of his 125cc scooter. Not only some of the only squid raised in captivity, these are undoubtedly the only cephalopds to have been born in the back of a car and traveled on the front of a scooter. Here we have history in the making.

Phil was fortunate enough to be given a private tour of Kelly Tarlton's to see the other cephalopod inhabitants. The 4 newcomers are just tiny babies in comparison to the fantastic octopus that you can see in action at the aquarium. But who knows, perhaps if you go to Kelly Tarlton's one day, you might just see his 4 precious 'babies', all grown up...