
Argonauta nodosa
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
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Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal

PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
…and this is a pharyngula stage embryo.
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7. Certain crimes are committed more immediately against God himself; others, against the state; and a third kind against certain persons. The chief crie in the first class, cognizable by temporal courts, is blasphemy, under which may be included atheism. This crime consists in denying or vilifying the Deity, by speech or writing. All who curse God or any of the persons of the blessed Trinity, are to suffer death, even for a single act; and those who deny him (sic), if they persist in their denial. The denial of a providence, or of the authority of the holy Scriptures, is punishable capitally for the third offence.
[1771 edition of Encyclopedia Brittanica, under Law: Tit. 33 "Of crimes"]
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Category: Cephalopods • Organisms
Posted on: October 20, 2006 7:00 AM, by PZ Myers
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Comments
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | October 20, 2006 7:24 AM
Funky.
Posted by: Fernando Magyar | October 20, 2006 7:25 AM
Wow, that's so awe inspiring I could almost pray to it!
Though I think I noticed a few defective cromatophores maybe you should send it back to the manufacturer, er designer...
Posted by: nat | October 20, 2006 8:02 AM
I suppose I can see an eye, but I do not understand the rest of this... thing. Was it submitted to some kind of... compression ?
Posted by: Snail | October 20, 2006 8:17 AM
Nat, the arms are folded back over the shell-like egg case. You can glimpse part of the white wall of the case behind the eye.
Posted by: David Harmon | October 20, 2006 8:18 AM
"I do not understand the rest of this... thing."
Seems you're not alone... e.g., it really is an octopus, but the egg case looks a lot like a nautilus shell. More about it at The Cephalopod Page:
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/tcp/Argo.html
Posted by: Toni Riga | October 20, 2006 8:38 AM
That would make a great head for a movie alien.
Posted by: SteveC | October 20, 2006 9:51 AM
I misread the caption as "argonauta medusa" the first time.
Posted by: Stanton | October 20, 2006 10:59 AM
Wowzers!
A mother argonaut!
Do the females die after the eggs hatch, like other octopi?