Sepioteuthis australis
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
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« Oh, no! Nightmares! | Main | Purple America »
Friday Cephalopod: The stripes look fabulous on you, darling
Category: Cephalopods • Organisms
Posted on: November 7, 2008 6:51 AM, by PZ Myers
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Comments
Posted by: Wowbagger | November 7, 2008 6:55 AM
It looks like it's posing to have a lure made out of it.
Posted by: Kel | November 7, 2008 6:56 AM
I await the fossil picture of this 200 million years ago.Posted by: alex | November 7, 2008 7:02 AM
gosh that's a beautiful cephalopod
Posted by: RM | November 7, 2008 7:20 AM
That should be the model for all cephalopods.
Posted by: Chris Davis | November 7, 2008 7:25 AM
Boo, hiss - want movement
Posted by: Bram De Smet | November 7, 2008 7:29 AM
This is a very interesting video on the Guardian.co.uk:
The creationism controversy in the classroom
Find it here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/video/2008/nov/07/creationism-evolution-teachers
Posted by: Thorn | November 7, 2008 8:16 AM
Dahling!
Posted by: SLC | November 7, 2008 8:19 AM
OT but I would hope that Prof. Myers will comment in his usual trenchant manner about the rumor that Robert F. Kennedy may get a high post in the incoming Obama administration; administrator of the EPA has been prominently mentioned. As Steven Novella and ORAC have pointed out in posts today and yesterday, given the fact that Mr. Kennedy is a total whackjob scientifically speaking, as evidenced by his anti-vaccine attitude, this would send the wrong message to the scientific community. This crackpot shouldn't be allowed withing 10 miles of any government agency with responsibilities for any scientific issue.
Posted by: Cuttlefish, OM | November 7, 2008 8:31 AM
Off the coast of Australia, and not the Bahamas,
Swims a squid in a pair of striped pajamas.
This may seem odd to folks like you
But he thinks your shirt looks funny, too.
Posted by: AB | November 7, 2008 8:41 AM
They say vertical stripes makes you look much slimmer. I never realized its an evolutionary thing as well. You look slimmer. Predators think you don't have enough meat to be worth chasing. You survive to make little vertical striped babies.
Its all just a little too neat. Nah, it musta been a (fashion?) designer's handiwork.
Posted by: robertm | November 7, 2008 8:44 AM
Its funny, ones first reaction is to say, "Oooooo, Ahhhhhh... Pretty colours!" But if you look just a little deeper, one can realize that the 'faaaabulous stripes you see, are a product of the way in which light interacts with water, making a striped body useful for survival.
Having knowledge to THAT effect, makes this little creature all the more pleasing to the eye.
Thanks for sharing PZ
Posted by: IST | November 7, 2008 8:44 AM
AB> If you look closely, they're horizontal on the organism, not vertical... a form of camouflage perhaps? breaking up the image?
Posted by: Vitis01 | November 7, 2008 9:56 AM
It looks upside-down to me.
Posted by: Glen Davidson | November 7, 2008 11:02 AM
Quite the hood ornament, as well.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
Posted by: Qwerty | November 7, 2008 11:28 AM
There's a lot of blue there. Did the little fellow vote for Obama?
Posted by: ThinkingApe | November 7, 2008 11:53 AM
It's adorable. Who's a little Sepioteuthis australis? Are you a little Sepioteuthis australis? Yes, you are, ooza wooza wooza...
Posted by: Mark | November 7, 2008 1:41 PM
snacking on little, glowing shrimp
hovering killer, bioluminous blimp
examines you closely, seems to shrink
then dissapears, in a cloud of ink
Posted by: Jeanette | November 7, 2008 3:50 PM
Aaaaahhhh...
A thread where everyone's funny and nobody's arguing!
Due to the cuteness, or the soothing blue and black?
And what evolutionary advantage does cuteness give to a slimy sea critter?
Posted by: Don | November 7, 2008 5:31 PM
Hmmm, australis, blue.
So, just how deadly is this guy?
Posted by: Heather | November 7, 2008 9:52 PM
There is another wonderful photo of the squid at http://www.scuba-equipment-usa.com/marine/NOV04/Southern_Calamari_Squid(Sepioteuthis_australis).html
The site describes the squid:
The Southern Calamari Squid (Sepioteuthis australis) is a temperate water species that can be found around the southern coastline of Australia and in the northern waters of New Zealand. It can be found around inshore coastal waters and frequently forms small schools of up to a dozen individuals and they can be found over seagrass meadows and reefs. They are generally seen by divers at night time as this is when they are more active and are attracted to divers diving lights. They feed on fish and crustacean species and are a fast voracious feeder. It lays its eggs on the seafloor or attached to sponges in fleshy white strings of 2-6 eggs per string.
Posted by: Boudicca | November 8, 2008 7:29 AM
Tim Gunn would approve of this lovely ensemble.