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Friday Cephalopod: Nom nom nom

Category: Cephalopods • Organisms
Posted on: November 13, 2009 7:32 AM, by PZ Myers

(via TONMO)

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Comments

Posted by: Nebula99 | November 13, 2009 7:41 AM

Wow, am I seriously first? Also, what species is that?

Posted by: Daniel de Rauglaudre | November 13, 2009 7:44 AM

Who is eating whom?

Posted by: Rixaeton | November 13, 2009 7:50 AM

*phew* Such raw savagery that you can only find in aquaria. It is a good thing we don't need to engage in such barbarism to survive.

Posted by: MadScientist | November 13, 2009 7:53 AM

Hey, who doesn't love crab? How big is that beast? I've seen crabs which only get to be about the size of a bottle cap, but the structure of that crab suggests to me that it is probably a good size for human consumption, in which case that's one huge cephalopod.

Posted by: Notagod | November 13, 2009 8:02 AM

Ah, how sweet. Virgin Mary being impregnated by one of the christian god ideas. I can image that is the case, therefore it is a christian-fact.

Posted by: Brian | November 13, 2009 8:25 AM

Man, what a way to go.

Posted by: Nephi | November 13, 2009 8:42 AM

The kiss of death

Posted by: Flea | November 13, 2009 8:51 AM

Is this sex, meal or what?

Posted by: MrFire | November 13, 2009 8:55 AM

I will set down money that Cuttlefish is already thinking of coupling 'crustacean' with 'degustation'...

#10

Posted by: Canadian Curmudgeon | November 13, 2009 9:02 AM

Another cephalopod for this special Friday the thirteenth.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1438565&sub=1438572

#11

Posted by: Tim H | November 13, 2009 9:08 AM

Every time I see a picture of a cephalopod attacking a crab I have to stop and wonder how the crab fails to defend itself. Are those claws really that useless?

#12

Posted by: abys | November 13, 2009 10:04 AM

@ #8: It's all of the above.

#13

Posted by: Davianed | November 13, 2009 10:14 AM

Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fhtagn!

This crab is only the beginning, as the Old Ones shall devour all in the end days!

#14

Posted by: Tiranna | November 13, 2009 10:51 AM

Hungry now!

#15

Posted by: Nick | November 13, 2009 11:17 AM

CARCINUS, NOOOOOOOOOOO!

Ahem, sorry. Crabs are to me what cephalopods are to PZ.

@MadScientist: That looks like Carcinus maenas. The largest ones have a carapace about the width of your palm, or a little less. They're really common, but their size makes them finicky to shell, and there isn't usually enough meat to bother with in the legs.

#16

Posted by: Happy Tentacles | November 13, 2009 11:46 AM

Now now, darling, please don't play with your food.

#17

Posted by: sasqwatch | November 13, 2009 12:05 PM

Here we go again... a bunch of scientists jumping to conclusions again.

I bet the nautilus is merely giving the crab a nice backrub.

#18

Posted by: Jamie | November 13, 2009 12:12 PM

@Tim H #11: It is pretty dangerous trying to score a crab for a meal if you're a cephalopod (yes, cephalopods can be injured by their claws); the key is to inject the crab with a paralyzing toxin (into one of their less protected joints), and then slowly digest the meal. I remember seeing an octopus with a crab in its mouth for (what I was told) a few days.

#19

Posted by: daveau | November 13, 2009 1:30 PM

Tentacles vs claws. And the winner is...

Yay, Friday.

#20

Posted by: MadScientist | November 13, 2009 3:39 PM

@Nick: Thanks. So the crab is a little bigger than the small varieties I had in mind but smaller than I'd bother to cook (unless I was as desperate as Wile E. Coyote), but at least I have some idea of the size of that cephalopod.

#21

Posted by: Joffan | November 13, 2009 4:51 PM

I neeeeed a hat like that. Hobbitesque with a dash of pimp.

#22

Posted by: Arsen | November 13, 2009 8:24 PM

Wow! Cephalopods like their shelled critters, don't they? Just saw a National Geographic thing on Youtube of a cuttlefish eating a crab... after hypnotizing it with flashing patterns on its skin! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC0zOLqYnRg&NR=1&feature=fvwp 3:00-3:45

Note how the cuttlefish curl up their tentacles while eating crabs, to keep them out of the reach of pincers and legs.

Cuttlefish are scary.

#23

Posted by: 'Tis Himself, OM | November 14, 2009 8:39 AM

I can has crab?

#24

Posted by: Don Teuton | November 14, 2009 7:08 PM

PZ, here's a tattoo you'll like...

http://ny-image3.etsy.com/il_fullxfull.102096727.jpg

#25

Posted by: Copernicus | November 20, 2009 10:59 PM

Nebula99 at #1

this looks like a Chambered Nautilus, Nautilus pompilius, having a go at a European Green Crab, Carcinus maenas...

and here again having lunch in this video:

feeding time at the National Aquarium

#26

Posted by: NSCanadaFlux | November 22, 2009 2:33 PM

FYI, that's a nautilus, not a cuttlefish to the majority of the above posters. Cuttlefish have cuttlebones, but no shell. Basically serves a homologous function though in buoyancy.