Friday Cephalopod: Origin of the Octosquid?
Category: Cephalopods • Organisms
Posted on: July 13, 2007 8:43 AM, by PZ Myers

Mastigoteuthis sp.
Since I recently pointed out the strange news reports of an "octosquid" that even went so far as to call it half squid/half octopus, I thought I'd show why the preliminary assignment to the genus Mastigoteuthis was suggestive. It probably did have 8 arms and 2 tentacles … before it got sucked up in a pipe and flung to the surface. Those two feeding tentacles are delicate.
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.







Comments
On the topic of Squid, I thought you might get a kick out of this:
http://skippyslist.com/2007/07/09/cephalopod-surprise/
Posted by: Ashaman | July 13, 2007 9:08 AM
If you had said they'd just discovered this on Titan, I'd have believed you...
Posted by: astromcnaught | July 13, 2007 9:10 AM
Thanks, Ashaman.
"PIE DOESN'T HAVE TENTACLES!"
What a hoot...
Posted by: Chuck C | July 13, 2007 9:38 AM
Oh, cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!!! :-)
Posted by: Melissa G | July 13, 2007 11:23 AM
Is it just me, or does this thing look like it's wearing shoes?
Posted by: Randy Tyson | July 13, 2007 11:46 AM
Ashaman, I second Chuck C - what a hoot!!
Careful folks - don't be sippin' your morning coffee if you pop over to read Ashaman's link. Pretty damn funny.
Posted by: ctenotrish, FCD | July 13, 2007 11:49 AM
Interesting, I thought the original picture of the octosquid looked like two of the tentacles were thicker than the others but I couldn't be sure it wasn't just due to the angle they were being held. Now the example above definitely has two tentacles thicker than the others.
Posted by: Peter Ashby | July 13, 2007 11:57 AM