Friday Cephalopod: Love the name, and it's cute too
Category: Cephalopods • Organisms
Posted on: March 23, 2007 6:00 AM, by PZ Myers

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

PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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Category: Cephalopods • Organisms
Posted on: March 23, 2007 6:00 AM, by PZ Myers

Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
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Comments
Posted by: Kristjan Wager | March 23, 2007 6:13 AM
One day someone is going to discover a new cephalopod, and name it after one PZ Myers. Just wait and see.
Posted by: G. Tingey | March 23, 2007 6:20 AM
What/where is this one's habitat?
Posted by: Bronze Dog | March 23, 2007 7:27 AM
UFO! UFO! *snap*
Posted by: David Livesay | March 23, 2007 8:13 AM
Courtesy of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute:
Posted by: David Livesay | March 23, 2007 8:26 AM
Did anybody here see the Jacques Cousteau film, World Without Sun (1959)?
It was a long time ago, but there was this scene in the film where they took their little diving saucer down to about 300 meters and saw this strange-looking creature ambling along the seafloor. At the time I thought it looked a little like a plucked, boneless chicken, but now I'm pretty sure it was one of these critters.
Posted by: Rey Fox | March 23, 2007 11:36 AM
At first glance, I thought Chihuly had made a blown glass octopus.
Posted by: Norm Olsen | March 23, 2007 1:48 PM
It reminds me of the flapjack devilfish (Opisthoteuthis californiana) that we occasionally observe from our deep water trawl surveys here in British Columbia; now that's a cool name for a cephalopod!
Posted by: Bob O'H | March 23, 2007 1:49 PM
Is it just me, or does Ishmael mainly appear in Lio on Fridays? I can't be bothered to check the history, but it's my impression that he does.
And yes, the squid is called Ishmael. Or at least was on the Wanted poster.
Bob
Posted by: SEF | March 23, 2007 5:08 PM
It looks like it would make someone a great hat - some sort of combination rubbery swimming one and broad-brimmed Ascot umbrella substitute. ;-)
Posted by: azkyroth | March 23, 2007 8:04 PM
Hmm. Eight arms, webbing almost the length of the arms, and fins it can swim with. It shares an intriguing set of characteristics with the vampire "squid." Is there a known relationship?
Posted by: David Livesay | March 23, 2007 8:53 PM
Not a close one. They are both Octopodiformes, but Vampyroteuthis has its own order, Vampyromorpha, all to itself. It is the only member of Octopodiformes that is not a member of the Octopoda, and it has characteristics of both the octopods and decapods.
It's kinda like one o' them transitional forms that creationists say don't exist.
Posted by: blf | March 23, 2007 9:22 PM
Um, sounds tasty! Got a favourite recipe?
B.t.w., how does one shave a squid? I can imagine the pzmyerspogonotrophy will need a bit of preparation...
Posted by: Alison | March 26, 2007 6:25 AM
Speaking of cute cephalopods, I found a baby octopus for you. . .http://www.babyanimalz.com/images/baby-octopus.jpg
Posted by: Tweeky | September 7, 2008 11:39 AM
It's a nice picture about the dumbo octopus ;D I myself have writen an articles about the Dumbo Octopus so if you're interested you can always take a look at it.