The Caribbean Reef Squid has some cool powers! It is usually green or brown, with beautiful shimmering speckles. But it can make ultra-fast changes in the colors and patterns of its skin. These changes help it hide and confuse its prey. It also uses them to express emotions, and communicate with other squid. It can even flash totally different signals to squid on its right and on its left at the same time! It can squirt ink. This helps it escape from predators. It may warn other squid of danger, too. It also has great built-in jet propulsion. It fills up a cavity in its body with water. Then it shoots the water out through a special siphon. This lets it jet itself in any direction by changing the aim of its siphon. It usually uses its jetting underwater, to get away from predators. But it can also use it to propel itself out of the water and “fly” through the air! Researchers have seen this squid using its jet propulsion to fly as far as 10 meters in the air. That’s over 50 times the length of its body. If people had the same ability, we’d be able to fly over 80 meters at a time!

This anecdote was adapted from and inspired by Jenn Yerkes’ weekly St. Martin nature series “Le saviez-vous ?” published in Le Pélican.