Ommastrephes bartramii
Via tolweb:
Ommastrephid squids are among the strongest swimmers in the Cephalopoda. Some are commonly known as "flying squid" due to their ability to glide over the ocean surface…
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Ommastrephes bartramii
awesome
Awwwwesome. I want one.
I love that they even spread and flatten ther tentacles out to increase their hang time. Now to go look up more about them.
Wow! That is so cool. I have never seen them out to sea. I've the flying fish but not the flying squid. Where or what ocean would you see them in? BTW I'm active duty Navy.
This so made my day. Totally pegged my awe meter.
Couldn't get it to smile for the picture?
Wow - I totally didn't know they could do that XD
Go click the Hovind iPod link. There's now a video with an absurd argument for why the Grand Canyon must have formed during Noah's flood.
That's it we as may well surrender now. They've taken to the skies.
@#4
ScienceDirect says that they are in the North Pacific.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It's Ommastrephes bartramii!
That is FANTASTIC. My favorite yet.
We're f*cked now.
I think this species is Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis
Quick. Where is the Mega Shark?
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a....flying SQUID?!
The question becomes: What can't cephalopods do?
Is there anything cephalopods won't do?
oh-so-cool.
Check the resemblance between the webbed-tentacle shape and a sphinx moth.
They can fly. There's nowhere to hide any more. Well, Arizona, I guess.
Hmmm. Can we give a squid some hydrogen-production genes so as to produce a floating (flammable) tentacled gasbag? Silent and camouflaged in sky-blue, they drift and ripple through the skies, descending to grasp their prey and lift them skywards to feed. The Tentacled Rapture.
---I probably need less coffee.
There's clearly a B-movie film right here!
Does anyone know why it can 'fly'?
Up in the air, Junior Squidman...
As far as we know, they don't strap bombs to themselves and explode in other schools of squids who have different invisible friends.
Too bad. Yesterday, this little cutie could have gotten a pair of nice Hang Time watchs from woot.com for only a couple of bucks.
JC
Holy Shit.
I for one will welcome our flying squid overloards when then take over.
Larynx: Well, flying fish do it to evade predators, so that seems like a plausible purpose.
The only thing I can think of is Sally Field
And SQUIDGET as the Flying Nun
Didn't I see one of these on a T-shirt somewhere recently?
Yikes! Compare it to a photo of predator drones like the US is using in Afghanistan. Very similar in configuration.
Amazing photograph.
The trick is getting them to bounce from the flour into the hot oil. Get that licked and you're good to go.
ice
See, this is how squids turn into birds. It is proof of evolution!
Great. I'm never going near water ever again.
Re Ipod: can't we get permanent link somewhere? I keep forgetting to go look for it.
Be un-delicious
Wagner's, Flight of the Valkyries is now running through my head.
Thanks loads,
T
I think I speak for many of us when I say "ZOMFFSM!! That squid is fucking gliding!!!1"
Hi, welcome back SC! New machine humming along well?
Which direction is it "flying in"? right to left? i.e. backwards?
Perhaps these creatures can glide above the water thanks to natural selection. Their ancestors who could stay out of the water the longest didn't become another animal's lunch. Or maybe god magically gave them this ability.
I assume it is flying to the left since that is the direction its water jet would propel it.
What I want to see is whatever was chasing it that scared it enough to lauch itself out of the water.
#34:
I love the smell of squid in the morning.
So much for the UFO phenomenon. This even explains the abductions...
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/6mb592
Anybody notice that this flying squid only has 6 arms? And people were complaining that the one on the T-shirt only had 6.
Which direction is it "flying in"? right to left? i.e. backwards?
Look at the water droplets.
Why couldn't I get a cool toy like that when I was a kid?
Now if we can just put frickin' lasers on their heads!
1. Flying squid
2. Flying squid with frickin' lasers on their heads.
3. ???
4. WORLD DOMINATION! (and profit!)
Did this photo get photoshopped? I looks like someone ran it thru the paint daubs filter.
Hi! Thanks! (I was so happy to see you'd returned a couple of weeks ago - missed you terribly in some of the political discussions.)
So far! I can't seem to get the battery to lock in place as I assume it should, but other than that I'm loving it.
It's an adolescent Vorlon having a bit of fun!
It's. So. Cute.
Live in freshwater.
There are actually 8. Follow the link to the source. (Still, 8 and not 10.)
I wonder how you would express "WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" in cephalopod?
....because that's got to be what that little guy is feeling...
I didn't know that this species was so colorful. Lovely!
you guys will like this:
http://www.explosm.net/db/files/Comics/Matt/omnipotent-beings-correctin…
Now THAT's transcendent!
I see no reason to think that it doesn't have 8 arms + 2 tentacles like all the other decapodiform cephalopods do.
> Is there anything cephalopods won't do?
Touch-type. Or fly by instruments only.
My first thought was of the Cuttlefish comic from xkcd. Amazing creatures are everywhere.
And to think some Ommastrephids are 7-foot long, have a temper and are invading into Pacific Northwestern coast of the US
What's the big deal? My 1.3 average in biology led me to believe all squid fly.
Show me a bird that can run really fast or a reptile that lives in the ocean and maybe then I'll be impressed.
I love the flying squid! And it doesn't even need quantum wings to do it! Next step - world domination by the Tentacled Overlords...
There are ten legs in the photo. Distribution in the photo appears to be left to right 1a 2a 1a+1t 1a+1t 2a 1a, where a=arm and t=tentacle. Membranes appear to connect the appendages to the two adjacent appendages. Think of a flattened umbrella.
There are actually 8. Follow the link to the source. (Still, 8 and not 10.)
Yes, I did before, 6 arms and the 2 tentacles are fused together so I didn't know if they still count as 2 or one, or even if they still work as a tentacle. So is this actually a heptapus?
Sven, click on the photo to see that it is not a decapod.
Sort my whites and colours, apparently.
Look at this. My favourite shirt, ruined. And is this ink?!
[To the Humboldt Squid wearing a maid's uniform]
That's it! Back to the Sea of Cortés with you! And you can forget about ever getting that green card!
Goddamn employment agency told me I was getting a Diablo Rojo--I thought it was some sort of sentient vacuum.
Awesome picture...thanks for posting PZ :-)
Can we have a video of that, please?
Scored with The Ride of the Valkyries?
This made my day. Absolutely amazing.
I love how the tentacles are posed perfectly for flight. Great color too.
I tis a decapodiform, taxonomically (as are all cephalopods except nautilids, octopuses, and the vampire "squid").
If you are counting arms on the illustration of the larva, there is a stubby pair of #5 arms behind the fused tentacles (=#4).
...and the tentacles come unfused during ontogeny.
My apologies to earlier commenters on having missed previous Valkyries requests.
On repeated viewing, our flying friend here must also be complimented for such a tasteful color scheme. It's very rare for blue and orange to look good together.
Excuse me, there's a knock at the door...
*is beaten to a pulp by University of Florida cheerleaders*
video?
That's completely awesome. Has anyone ever gotten video of them doing that?
The first time I heard of these critters was when I read Kon Tiki in the 1950s. Thor Heyerdahl described them flying aboard the raft. IIRC, at least one landed on the roof of the raft's shelter, meaning it got on the order of two meters above the water.
I've always thought whoever designed the Frederic Fekkai packaging did a nice job with the combination (OK, so it's more of a terra cotta, but still, it's a cool Mediterranean feel):
http://www.fekkai.com/collection/marine-hair
Yes, I was looking at the larva diagram. I stand corrected, thanks, Sven.
Open the cephalopod bay doors HAL.
You'll believe a squid can fly...
Stunningly lovely.
Yes, I was looking at the larva diagram. I stand corrected, thanks, Sven.
Sorry for the double comment. Nothing to do with Scienceblog's famous "black screen of posting delay".
What the hell? Is that thing real? 0_o
That is an amazing picture. It is so brightly colored that for a minute I had to do a double-take, thinking it looked like a plastic model.
Re: Fred the Hun #47, and any other B5 fans out there,
In the one scene shown of a (well two, actually) Vorlon in its natural state (ie not trying hide its appearance somehow), I think it's a toss up as to whether they resemble cephalopods the most, or hydra. Their spaceships, of course, are clearly cephalopod derived (and as organic vessels, they might even BE cephalopods). Perhaps that was the real reason they visited earth at all, all that rest about manipulating genomes and breeding telepaths being so much misdirection.
Why should Exocoetidae have all the fun?
That is quite awesome, PZ. And gorgeous to boot. Thanks!
Stupid question from someone who is tentacle-challenged:
Is the "c" in cephalapod hard or soft? Is it "sephalapod" or "kephalapod"?
sephalopod
It's k, like in Krzyzewski.
;p
I think TEO (#14) might be right. This looks a bit slender to be Ommastrephes bartramii. I remember seeing one that we caught while midwater trawling off the west coast of New Zealand (Taranaki) when I was doing my field work on enoploteuthids. It was a massive thing, almost a metre long and very bulky. And blood red - must've been very pissed off.
Wonderful stuff. Symmetry in motion.
It's not often I see a genuine picture that looks so blatantly photoshopped. I guess reality is unrealistic.
It's beautiful! I wonder if it tastes good. I thought it was an animal created with a photo editor.
Breathtakingly beautiful.
If birds evolved from squid, why are there still squid?
Incidentally. . .
With pictures.
RickK #83: In the parts where I hail from, the "c" is soft, but I don't presume to speak for all places and languages.
But at any rate, a squid by any other pronunciation would taste just as sweet.
And an Old One by any other feeble attempt at correlation would be just as pitiless.
I never realized squid were beautiful before.
"I'm learning to fly, but I don't have wings..."
Yes, I'm currently listening to Pink Floyd.
Given the brain/body ratio, this fella must actually be levitating. Sweet stuff abounds on this site!
CTHULHU FHTAGN
Ah, memories... squid and flying fish
I once sailed in the TransPac yacht race from southern California to Hawaii in a 40' sailboat.
Once we got down into the tropics, flying fish were common - the pressure wave at the bow would startle them into flying, presumably to get away for the large predator' our boat felt like. In the day, they would generally fly directly away form the boat - but at night, they seemed to be attracted to the boat, perhaps from instrument lights or moonlight, glinting off the sails. We would find them when they flew into the sails and then fell into the boat.
We never saw a squid in the day - but at night, they seemed to be at the surface, and reacted the same as the flying fish. We would sometimes collect a couple dozen from the cockpit - usually after we found them by putting a hand on one, is stepping on it with our sea boots and sliding across the deck. Little guys, 3- 5" long, but they jumped and 'flew' well enough to come aboard in decent numbers,for several nights in a row.
At one 2 am watch change, the watch captain carried a handful of small squid when he went below to wake the next watch, and dropped one squid into each sea boot as he was doing it. Squish. Obscenities. Good times.
That same night, I was on helm when a pair of flying fish bracketed my head, one on each side within a foot of me. Those guys move really fast - it would have really hurt if they hit me. About 10 minutes later, a squid hit me in the side of the face - thought at first it was a flying fish, and it scared the bejeebers out of me.
This is a beautiful animal. So colourful, it looks like it's made of glass.
Nevertheless, I can't help but wonder why it isn't swimming in garlic butter on my plate right now.
This of course reminds me of the famous line,
Oh what fun
Cthulhu fhtagn
Cthulhu fhtagn
All will chant as he rises
Sing with glee
Tekeli-li
Tekeli-li
In our cultish disguises
that's awesome. I wonder they will evolve active flying some day. Maybe with some kind of biological jet engine, powered by modified ink glands? :D
If you ever see them in their natural habitat hovering, darting etc... you will understand that that is exactly what they do. Its just that the fluid is liquid not gaseous.
Except for the modified ink glands...
Looks like a fishing lure. Mwa ha ha.
isn't that Tom Petty though?
Beautiful!
I remember the first and only time I ever saw flying fish, but I never imagined flying squidlets. Wow.
I thought at first that leaping into the air would expose the little guys to bird attacks, but I bet they catch the birds by surprise. (Reminds me of a thought while reading about Edicarian life--at that early stage of evolution, being up against the water's surface was a good idea, as there was NOTHING above the water.
_Learning to Fly_ is Floyd.
Learning to Fly
Learning to Fly
OH, man, I very nearly missed this one!
I've been wanting to see a decent picture of one of those legendary critters in gliding flight for over 40 years after I first heard about them!
For a few decades there I was beginning to think the tales a little exaggerated...even after examing some specimens that, sure enough SEEMED to have the accroutrements, although the winged airfoil action of the WEBBED TENTACLES - in ADDITION to the fins on the mantle - never quite gelled in my mind how they would be deployed so BEAUTIFULLY LIKE THAT!!!
If I had visualized anything NEARLY resembling anything like what I'm now looking at right now, I would have dismissed it as a fantasy.
I
am
KNOCKED
RIGHT
OUT.
I mean, I can't even get over how it arranges its tentacles to shed water efficiently...NOW I can see what's going on....
POSITIVELY GORGEOUS.
Thank you PZ for scaring this one up for us!
Absolutely stunning. Now I KNOW some squids DO take to the air, and with MAGNIFICENT AERODYNAMIC GRACEFULNESS (instead of merely jumping out of the water).
have you ever heard of the tree octopus it has a website but it is so fake but this is so cool and real!!!!!!!!!!!!
Time for a "Friday" creationist: Todd Wood mentions sometime he likes to eat. Also he keeps up is "Sadly, an Honest" reputation with his comment on a recently discovered transitional fossil.
You said it, sarah!
Take a look at the archives--every Friday there's another more-or-less equally cool animal posted.
From Todd's Blog (linked in #109):
or...hmmmmm. If only there was a simple, straightforward explanation that was consistent with all of the physical evidence. But what single idea could possibly be the answer to all those questions?
It's a real puzzler.
Right Sven, science uses evidence. The intellectually challenged add in their presupposed god and think they have made a breakthrough that the scientists refuse to see. Todd must demonstrate the physical evidence for his god first. I'll bet he just can't see the need to show evidence.
I submitted the following to Fark.com:
(Sadly an Honest Creationist)
Weird
Creationist "biologist" charged up by God's grace, the smell of rain, and eating grilled octopus. Wonders "Why do I have proteins significantly similar to those of bacteria?" If only some theory covered that
I would have loved to have it as some theory that could explain the similarities and differences between different types of organisms but that would have made the headline too long. (And also one of my pet peeves is always mentioning that evolution can explain similarity without mentioning it can explain the who pattern of both similarities and differences. The common creator might explain some similarities, but not the who tapestry.
The last two words of my last comment should be "whole tapestry" and not "who tapestry". Sorry about that.
OMG that pic is so obv fake
What an amazing photo!