Sepia smithi
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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« Dr Chilingar, AKA Dr Chill | Main | A slight delay »
Friday Cephalopod: a subtle overlord in blue pastels
Category: Cephalopods • Organisms
Posted on: July 25, 2008 9:38 AM, by PZ Myers
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Comments
Posted by: Michelle | July 25, 2008 9:49 AM
Is that a fossil???
Posted by: Undo | July 25, 2008 9:50 AM
Wow, Cephalopods are interesting creatures to say the least. How big is this one?
Posted by: Josh West | July 25, 2008 9:51 AM
lolsquids
INVISIBLE CEPHALOPOD
Posted by: Who Cares | July 25, 2008 9:53 AM
Geez, that is good camouflage.
Posted by: Planeten Paultje | July 25, 2008 10:06 AM
Makes me think of a carpet shark. Very beautiful!
Posted by: Bill Anderson | July 25, 2008 10:13 AM
That's one very scary overlord. He bears a striking resemblance to a Pope. That'll give me nightmares. Cardinal Smithi becomes Pope Sepia. Being that he's a cephalopod, I'll accept him as Overlord, but never as my spiritual leader, just because the image of him is so papal.
Posted by: SC | July 25, 2008 10:15 AM
Beauty.
Posted by: Ignorant Athiest | July 25, 2008 10:22 AM
Yay! Cephalopods, not crackers. THIS is why I love this site.
Posted by: Akheloios | July 25, 2008 10:25 AM
Indeed, no pope could dress more snappily than with one of those on his head.
Posted by: Ignorant Athiest | July 25, 2008 10:27 AM
OK, I am the guilty one, but I think we need a new law now to go with Godwin's Law. Myers' Law: As post count increases, the odds of some one mentioning the cracker approach unity :)
Posted by: demallien | July 25, 2008 10:28 AM
Is it really camouflage, or just a serendipitous background for the photo? I wonder what this guy looks like at other wavelengths than visible light...
Posted by: Kryth | July 25, 2008 10:35 AM
Is it just me or does that sexy beast have frackin laser beams coming out of it's frackin eyes. :)
Posted by: SeanH | July 25, 2008 10:46 AM
It's real. He has chromatophores in his skin that let him blend in almost anywhere he finds himself. I have no idea if it's the same species, but here's another well camouflaged cuttlefish on Wikipedia.Posted by: alex | July 25, 2008 11:02 AM
that's a beautiful wee creature.
Posted by: Evolving Squid | July 25, 2008 11:03 AM
@#11
Squids and octopods have amazing camouflage abilities. There's a video (will try to find it) of experiments where they put a squid or an octopus on various colours and textures to see what it would do.
Watching it try to do the black and white checkerboard pattern was interesting, and it makes a good effort at it.
Posted by: chigurh | July 25, 2008 11:08 AM
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/camo/
Posted by: Evolving Squid | July 25, 2008 11:09 AM
Ah, it's not a video, it's a paper. Here are some links:
http://www.biolbull.org/cgi/reprint/203/2/232.pdf
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/figsonly/204/12/2119
Posted by: John Phillips, FCD | July 25, 2008 11:35 AM
Hooray, a cephalopod at last and a well kewl one :)
Posted by: Ardsnard | July 25, 2008 11:56 AM
Kryth, first thing I spotted were the lasers as well.
Posted by: Hitori | July 25, 2008 11:56 AM
I've actually helped with research like that when I interned at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. The researchers were mainly working with cuttlefish, and I was able to contruct a project working with octopuses on b&w checkered backgrounds. Some of the results from the young cuttlefish were particularly striking.
Posted by: mandrake | July 25, 2008 12:15 PM
Some of the results from the young cuttlefish were particularly striking.
Why the young ones specifically, do you think? Or is it just a question of size - smaller cuttlefish, fewer "checks" to make, so fewer abrupt changes in color. Or do the chromatophores grow less effective as they get older?
Posted by: Barklikeadog | July 25, 2008 12:48 PM
Cool!
Posted by: Barklikeadog | July 25, 2008 12:53 PM
Actually there was a Discovery Channel take on this very thing. The video was interesting.
Posted by: megan | July 25, 2008 2:24 PM
He needs to be a character in an animated flic. Much cooler than a square sponge.
Posted by: Yossarian | July 25, 2008 2:58 PM
Exceptionally cool cuttlefish. Does it camouflage itself in this way to hide from the things it eats, or the things that eat it?
Posted by: LisaJ | July 25, 2008 4:47 PM
Ohhhh Ahhhhh, cool. Looks very fossil like. But also jelly like at the same time.
Posted by: name withheld due to extremely poor pun | July 25, 2008 4:48 PM
He (she? it?)'s cute, I wonder if it likes to cuddle!
Posted by: Candy | July 25, 2008 4:58 PM
Until I stumbled upon Pharyngula, I never realized how beautiful and varied these animals can be. This one is simply lovely. I really enjoy the Friday Ceph.
He (she? it?)'s cute, I wonder if it likes to cuddle!
That would make it a "cuddlefish"!
Sorry, couldn't help myself.
Posted by: Oh, I Don't Know... | July 25, 2008 5:28 PM
CTHULHU!?! MASTER!!! I'M COMING HOME...
Posted by: Chakolate | July 25, 2008 9:33 PM
Hey, PZ, did you see that a zebra fish won a beauty contest? Okay, it didn't win, it came in second. And it wasn't the whole fish. Still cool, though.
http://www.nikonsmallworld.com/gallery.php?grouping=year&year=2007&imagepos=2
Posted by: Shas | July 25, 2008 10:16 PM
Professor,
Do you have a small penis?
Posted by: Phillip Allen | July 25, 2008 11:20 PM
If anything is worship-worthy, I'd be delighted to nominate Sepia smithii as Divine Overlord, at least of this solar system unto the heliopause.
And Shas, it is not for us to question our noodly appendages in relation to others', or others' in relation to ours. All noodly appendages are gifts of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (peace be unto it) and are each sufficient unto each. Please dedicate yourself to finding the FSM within yourself through careful study and ministration of your own gift, thereby learning not to be such a maroon.
Posted by: scooter | July 26, 2008 2:58 AM
#11
When you get to a depth of around 20 feet, everything is shades of blue, unless you are using artificial lighting to photograph.
That's why I've always preferred snorkel to SCUBA
Posted by: scooter | July 26, 2008 3:30 AM
Gaping Vagina, Ms Shas? They all seem small in a wizard's hat. Learn to do some of the exercises, but know there is only so much you can do to correct cavernous hand me down genital genetics.
Education is important, train the males to come in at a 45 degree angle for necessary friction. Many women with your disorder have managed to mate. Maintaining a monogamous relationship may be more difficult without restraints.
Good luck
Posted by: Lee Picton | July 26, 2008 5:06 PM
Oooohhhh! It's so pretty!
Posted by: killyosaur | July 27, 2008 4:27 PM
What exactly does this have to do with Cephalopods? Did I miss something somewhere?
Posted by: killyosaur | July 27, 2008 11:53 PM
I have absolutely no idea why I decided to capitalize "cephalopods". That was just stupid.
Posted by: Schubertiad | July 28, 2008 2:10 AM
Ooooh, that's lovely. Looks like it came out of a Bosch painting.
Posted by: Lucas Trevino | August 12, 2008 11:05 AM
There's some mistake. That is obviously Anthony Hopkins.