Friday Cephalopod: Veiny
Category: Cephalopods • Organisms
Posted on: May 9, 2008 8:10 AM, by PZ Myers
Octopus marginatus
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
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Octopus marginatus
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Comments
Oh. What a sweet little chappy. I wish I was his mum.
Posted by: Bride of Shrek | May 9, 2008 8:32 AM
Veiny
Vidi
Posted by: CortxVortx | May 9, 2008 8:34 AM
hey pz,
check out this funky video of one of these little suckers cutting up the dance floor.
Posted by: deviljelly | May 9, 2008 8:52 AM
(oops forgot the link)
http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/misc/hp_jumps/octopus/marg.html
Posted by: deviljelly | May 9, 2008 8:53 AM
How do we know he's a he? My first thought (for reasons I can't explain) was, Wow, she's beautiful! I tend to assume both cephalopods and spiders are always female. Depending on the species of spider I have a pretty good chance of being right, but with the cephalopods, well, it's 50-50, right?
Posted by: Christopher Waldrop | May 9, 2008 9:11 AM
Looks like a Platypus,dont he......
Posted by: clinteas | May 9, 2008 9:12 AM
"one of the most remarkable discoveries of recent decades is that genomes are not static, fixed entities that evolve as one; instead, they are highly dynamic. From one generation to the next, stretches of DNA may appear or disappear, or move from one location to another. From time to time, entire new genes appear and become established, thus expanding the organisms' genetic repertoire.
But where do new genes come from?
http://tinyurl.com/6mkzx6
Posted by: Bishop Pontoppodan | May 9, 2008 9:17 AM
Looks delicious. Saute with butter, garlic and parsley. Serve with a slice of lemon and sides of potatoes and steamed vegetables.
Posted by: JRS | May 9, 2008 9:19 AM
Veiny.
Vidi.
Vici! (Oh, come on, someone had to.)
Pretty colors.
Posted by: Carlie | May 9, 2008 9:30 AM
Genes are sometimes duplicated by copying errors or mitosis or meiosis mistakes, and then one of the copies is free to mutate.
In very rare cases, junk DNA mutates into a gene. This is where the gene for the antifreeze protein of icefish comes from: basically, a start codon and a stop codon appeared in the middle of nowhere by random mutation.
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | May 9, 2008 9:49 AM
In other words, ultimately, nothing is ever really new. :-)
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | May 9, 2008 9:50 AM
Vichy.
Back to the water!
Posted by: Ron Sullivan | May 9, 2008 9:53 AM
It looks kinda like a hippo facing to the left with its mouth wide open.
I can't unsee it.
Posted by: impiri | May 9, 2008 10:00 AM
Posted by: Emmet Caulfield | May 9, 2008 10:00 AM
Emmet is technically correct. My first Latin teacher hammered this into us and we had to pronounce the 'v' as a 'w.' She was kinda old-school like that.
Posted by: Sloan | May 9, 2008 10:23 AM
The Latin pronunciation that always cracked me up -- 'cuz I'm lame like that -- was "civi". It always seemed so silly.
Thanks for the Friday Ceph, PZ! He's a beauty.
Posted by: Avekid | May 9, 2008 10:29 AM
Not medieval -- the emperor Valentinianus was already transcribed by the Greeks with beta rather than with omikron ypsilon, so the shift must have happened sometime between him and Valerius (Oualerios). But of course Caesar lived much earlier than both.
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | May 9, 2008 10:29 AM
Just a fun fact: Octopus marginatus is now Amphioctopus marginatus. Ever shifting taxonomy is so much fun.
Posted by: Taollan | May 9, 2008 10:31 AM
What would cause a cephalopod to break out with such a bright smile?
Posted by: bunnycatch3r | May 9, 2008 10:37 AM
Ah! That explains "Fwee Bwian!!" Sort of.
Posted by: Kseniya | May 9, 2008 10:43 AM
Beautiful!
Posted by: lisa | May 9, 2008 10:51 AM
Did you guys watch the videos deviljelly linked to? Did you?!
Posted by: Brownian, OM | May 9, 2008 10:54 AM
Neat video!
What's with the webbing? It seems like it would inhibit mobility somewhat (that opinion is based on nothing concrete). Is it a "retractable" feature to make the little cutie-pie look bigger when threatened?
I think this is my favorite Friday cephalopod.
Posted by: Alligator | May 9, 2008 12:19 PM
I wrote...
I just read the platypus genome paper. It mentions that the casein genes (for a group of milk proteins) derive from duplicates of genes for an enamel protein. That's right, milk is mutated tooth enamel. :-)
As I wrote: ultimately, nothing is ever really new.
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | May 9, 2008 12:28 PM
Absolutely gorgeous.
Posted by: Sili | May 9, 2008 12:37 PM
"wehny weedy weeky"
Cowwect, my fwiend, Biggus Dickus.
Posted by: Darles Chickens | May 9, 2008 12:55 PM
Pretty pretty cPod.
Posted by: TheWireMonkey | May 9, 2008 12:57 PM
Beautiful animal.
Just curious. Given the tradition, are you a Detroit Redwings fan Mr. Myers?
Posted by: (((Billy))) | May 9, 2008 2:05 PM
Come on now PZ, those are not actually veins as in part of the circulatory system, are they?
Posted by: Blind Squirrel FCD | May 9, 2008 3:26 PM
There's a second link on this page to a video of the same kind of octopus pretending to be an algae whilst walking along on two legs.
It's very Dr. Seuss.
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/03/24_octopus.shtml
Posted by: Will Von Wizzlepig | May 9, 2008 6:41 PM
Those running Octopuses are awesome. I would never have expected that.
Posted by: Martin | May 10, 2008 3:54 AM
It looks like a very happy red hippo with all but its head buried in the seafloor.
Posted by: James | May 10, 2008 10:41 AM
Agreed James. That's what I thought it was at first, before I took a good look at it. :D
Posted by: Keerax | May 10, 2008 11:49 AM