Friday Cephalopod: Big'un : Pharyngula

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Friday Cephalopod: Big'un

Category: Cephalopods • Organisms
Posted on: January 5, 2007 6:00 AM, by PZ Myers

einen Pazifischen Riesenoktopus

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Comments

Posted by: llewelly | January 5, 2007 7:23 AM

More cross-species dating?

Posted by: Dave Hone | January 5, 2007 8:46 AM

I know the Pacific ones get big, but how close is the diver? Is that a question of perspective, or is it really a 3 or 4 beastie (mantle + 1 tentacle)?

Posted by: anarchistecogeek | January 5, 2007 9:34 AM

Gay Tentacle Porn? Looks like the diver's getting, um, "cephalo"...

Posted by: Saint Gasoline | January 5, 2007 10:04 AM

OMG, he is totally having oral sex with that thing.

...not that I can blame him. She's awfully cute.

Posted by: Saint Gasoline | January 5, 2007 10:04 AM

OMG, he is totally having oral sex with that thing.

...not that I can blame him. She's awfully cute.

Posted by: Saint Gasoline | January 5, 2007 10:04 AM

OMG, he is totally having oral sex with that thing.

...not that I can blame him. She's awfully cute.

Posted by: br0k3nglass | January 5, 2007 10:06 AM

Now I'm jealous. I want a cephalo-hug too.

Posted by: quork | January 5, 2007 10:56 AM

Looks like that cephalopod is carrying home the groceries.

Posted by: Rupert | January 5, 2007 12:13 PM

These novelty condoms have gone too far.

#10

Posted by: hans | January 5, 2007 12:31 PM

It's a 4.5 meter 'pussy. Besides, you can clearly see that at least one tentacle goes *behind* the diver.

#11

Posted by: Mena | January 5, 2007 1:04 PM

I don't anthropomorphize often but (s)he looks grumpy. After reading the previous comments I hate to wonder why! :^O

#12

Posted by: Fernando Magyar | January 5, 2007 3:09 PM

The diver is a "he"? How can any of you be so certain about the sex of the diver, not that it really matters ;-)

#13

Posted by: Spoony Quine | January 5, 2007 5:13 PM

` Must... get... visions... of 'Octopussy' out of my head!

#14

Posted by: SEF | January 5, 2007 9:01 PM

Hey, PZ! If Cephalopodmas is the solstice (whether for cultish reasons or more rational ones), then when is its year zero and is the counting system 8 or 10? These questions need to be answered so that people can celebrate the "Big'un" in anniversary terms.

#15

Posted by: brightmoon | January 5, 2007 10:04 PM

wow i hope that octo didnt get PO'd at that diver ....those beaks look like they take a good sized chunk

#16

Posted by: eric | January 5, 2007 10:36 PM

Great picture. Can I be a total German grammar nerd and point out that your caption should be "ein Pazifischer Riesenoktopus"? As with many things in life, context is crucial.

#17

Posted by: JohnnieCanuck | January 6, 2007 4:29 AM

Well BabelFish wasn't much help in determining the diver's sex. I got:

Courageously: One of the two biologists dares itself completely near to a Pacific Riesenoktopus near (4.50 meters; Queen Charlotte sound, Vancouver Iceland, British Columbia, Canada)

'Riesen' by itself translated as 'giant'. Divers here (Georgia Strait) have often tamed them to take food. Myself, I'd worry about the possibility that 'all gone' might not be easily communicated. That can be the case with bears, for example.

#18

Posted by: eric | January 6, 2007 12:05 PM

Courageously: One of the two biologists dares itself completely near

That should be "Courageous: One of the two biologists ventures quite near", and that second "near" from BabelFish should go. "Riesenoktopus" does indeed mean giant octopus.

#19

Posted by: raincoaster | January 7, 2007 1:16 AM

Also, to be nerdily provincial, it's Hecate Strait, not Georgia Strait, that far North.