Friday Cephalopod: The Great and Serene Floating Brain : Pharyngula

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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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Friday Cephalopod: The Great and Serene Floating Brain

Category: Organisms
Posted on: July 10, 2009 9:27 AM, by PZ Myers

Sepiadarium austrinum

Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide ^{(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll)}, by Mark Norman.

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Comments

Posted by: PZ Myers | July 10, 2009 9:33 AM

Uncomfortable fact: that big bulbous thing is actually its gut. Its brain is a small ganglion at the base of the arms.

We primates just wish we could bare our bellies as a proxy for the magnitude of our brains.

Posted by: Brian | July 10, 2009 9:40 AM

Ah, peace.

Posted by: Teh Merkin | July 10, 2009 9:43 AM

Aw, he has a sleepy...

This could be the start of a new intertubes meme: cephaLOLpods.

Posted by: John Morales | July 10, 2009 9:45 AM

You don't fool me, PZ — that's a Guild navigator.

Posted by: daveau | July 10, 2009 9:46 AM

This is so much cuter than those smelly old kitteh pix. (Take that, Jerry Coyne!)

Posted by: Somnolent Aphid | July 10, 2009 9:50 AM

as a proxy for the magnitude of our what now?

Posted by: Tom Foss | July 10, 2009 9:52 AM

Oh no! Someone decapitated Dr. Zoidberg!

Posted by: Bruce | July 10, 2009 9:54 AM

It wants me to assassinate Paul Atredies. I think it would have better luck at a pro-lifer blog.

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | July 10, 2009 9:56 AM

We primates just wish we could bare our bellies as a proxy for the magnitude of our brains.

I'm a freaking genius by that measure.

#10

Posted by: Clint Lovell | July 10, 2009 9:56 AM

"We primates just wish we could bare our bellies as a proxy for the magnitude of our brains."
I certainly do.

#11

Posted by: Nangleator | July 10, 2009 9:59 AM

Kind of makes my Gordon Freeman itch a little.

#12

Posted by: Roland Branconnier | July 10, 2009 10:01 AM

Welcome to Woo-Woo Friday:

Wait! Yes! I see it! The far right tentacle contains an image of the Virgin Elephant. Call the Vatican. It a miracle redux!

#13

Posted by: Postman | July 10, 2009 10:05 AM

I, for one, welcome our big-bellied overlords.

#14

Posted by: ElectricBarbarella | July 10, 2009 10:06 AM

What a cutie!

I just wanted to add that I am getting "bad header" screens flashing. This has gone on for several weeks. The page is inaccessible to me for a long time. Then I get to post, then it goes down again.

toni

#15

Posted by: Nerd of Redhead, OM | July 10, 2009 10:18 AM

I'm a freaking genius by that measure.

Me too.

#16

Posted by: claw | July 10, 2009 10:25 AM

All hail our serene and squid-ly overlord!

#17

Posted by: Watchman | July 10, 2009 10:28 AM

The brains from planet Arous could learn a few things from this dude.

#18

Posted by: BigBob | July 10, 2009 11:04 AM

So that's where the Mekon went.

#19

Posted by: Evil Eye | July 10, 2009 11:18 AM

Makes me thing of the Watchmen!

#20

Posted by: SaraJ | July 10, 2009 11:24 AM

Beautiful! This may just be my favorite Friday Cephalopod yet!

#21

Posted by: mark | July 10, 2009 11:33 AM

I agree! I'd hang it on my wall!

#22

Posted by: Desert Son, OM | July 10, 2009 11:37 AM

Oh, man, if that's not a "That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die" image, I don't know what is!

Iä! Iä! Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

Awesome image. A welcome respite from the tales of journalistic failings these last 24 hours. Hard to read those threads without dangerous blood pressure increase.

Many kudos to the photographer - excellent skill and composition and patience and eye to capture that moment.

No kings,

Robert

#23

Posted by: Desert Son, OM | July 10, 2009 11:43 AM

Pharyngula!

Come for the science, social commentary, and witty repartee, stay for the photography and Cuttlefish poems!

No kings,

Robert

#24

Posted by: Happy Tentacles | July 10, 2009 11:51 AM

He looks very pleased with himself. And SO cute!

#25

Posted by: Patricia, OM | July 10, 2009 12:27 PM

Wait a minute...I've seen those colors all together before.
(Holds ball up to screen)
This is too funny, the name of the yarn that matches the cephalopod colors is Archangel 850 by Malabrigo. I was thinking of fall socks when I bought it.

#26

Posted by: Connor | July 10, 2009 12:43 PM

First thought, Awesome.

Second thought, "that's a Guild navigator."

Damn you for beating me too it...

#27

Posted by: 900ft jesus | July 10, 2009 12:49 PM

Desert Son beat me to it - first thought - Cthulhu

Magnigicent! I too come for the science, but really look forward to these friday photos.

#28

Posted by: Jadehawk, OM | July 10, 2009 1:04 PM

what an arrogant, stuck-up little cephalopod :-p

#29

Posted by: 'Tis Himself, Quel Dommage | July 10, 2009 1:10 PM

I, for one, welcome our new brainy (or is that gutty?) overlords.

#30

Posted by: Bone Oboe | July 10, 2009 2:21 PM

I've been beaten to the "Guild Navigator" reference. So I'll just say that this reminds me of some Giger painting.

#31

Posted by: meh1963 | July 10, 2009 6:44 PM

The picture needs a caption:

"Pay no attention to the cephalapod behind the curtain..."

#32

Posted by: Cuttlefish, OM | July 10, 2009 7:53 PM

I remember him from High School... dude got more tail than Sinatra...

#33

Posted by: Last Hussar | July 10, 2009 7:59 PM

That is its gut? Obviously a wargamer then- give it a 25mm Napoleonic army and it will happily argue with you all night.

#34

Posted by: bastion of sass | July 10, 2009 8:01 PM

Isn't that so typical? The one shot that gets printed and passed around is the one in which you've got your eyes closed.

#35

Posted by: Don Rowe | July 10, 2009 8:12 PM

I've seen (or at least heard of) several Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies since the end of the TV series and I always wondered what happened to Krang after the TV show; he was never in any of the movies.

Now I know.

#36

Posted by: Jeff S | July 10, 2009 10:07 PM

Further proof that we humans are inept when compared to nature in terms of the beauty we create.

#37

Posted by: Cowcakes | July 10, 2009 10:50 PM

OMG or should that be OMFSG, it looks like Roger from American Dad

#38

Posted by: tweetybirdie386sx | July 10, 2009 10:52 PM

Looks like the aliens from the Star Trek pilot episode.

http://www.ottens.co.uk/forgottentrek/images/TOS/Roddenberry%20The%20Cage.jpg