cephalopods
pharyngula | September 23, 2011They are utterly adorable, and I feel the stirrings of the maternal impulse deep in my mantle. The way their little bodies bob as they swim…awww, for cute.
(via Deep Sea News)
(Also on FtB)
pharyngula | September 21, 2011This is a beautiful illustration of the flaw in applying human sexual conventions to non-human organisms. researchers studying deep-sea squid found that all of the squid, male and female alike, were speckled with sperm packets — the males just flick these things out at any passing squid, on the chance that it's a female. It's silly to call this bisexuality or same-sex mating, though — it's pretty darned common in invertebrates. Many species of sea urchins, for instance, indulge in synchronized ejaculatory orgies: on one or a few days a year, all of the individuals in a colony simultaneously…
pharyngula | September 16, 2011Emily Baldry is six years old. Emily has a little plastic shovel. Emily dug up a 160 million year old cephalopod.
I'm 54, I have a little plastic spoon, and I'm eyeing the backyard. There used to be cephalopods swimming around in this neighborhood…of course, there were also some annoying glaciers that scoured the landscape. But I can dream!
(Also on FtB)
pharyngula | September 11, 2011This is tragic. A unique site where the giant cuttlefish migrates and breeds is under threat by the construction of a desalination plant that would render the local waters unsupportable to cuttlefish life. This must be stopped!
There is a petition: sign it.
(via Cuttlefish, of course)
(Also on FtB)
pharyngula | September 5, 2011I need a battalion of these. Only question: do I hold them in reserve for my bid for world conquest, or do I succumb to temptation and use it in the classroom to intimidate the students?
(via io9)
(Also on FtB)
pharyngula | September 3, 2011I have been trying to understand the peculiar popularity of these posts about sharp-clawed carnivores called "cats", and near as I can tell it has something to do with the property of cuteness. "Cute" seems mostly undefinable, however, but usually seems to involve playful juvenile behavior by large-eyed creatures. This seems to qualify: Sepiolid burying behavior. It's adorable!
It's cute how it so quickly conceals itself to lurk and wait for prey to swim by.
I'm still trying to grasp the concept of cute, though. Is this cute? It's a giant Pacific octopus swimming up an Alaskan creek.
Do…
pharyngula | September 2, 2011I've been flattened with some flu-like bug, so don't expect creativity from me today, or even any effort.
(NatGeo)
(Also on FtB)
pharyngula | August 9, 2011Start your day with a gallery of images of the Colossal Squid.
(via Offshore Fishing Videos and TONMO)
(Also on FtB. Maybe. If the damned thing is working for you yet)
pharyngula | July 29, 2011Finally. Sorry, gang, I was stuck in a hotel with bad wifi this morning, then traveled all day, so finally, here you go.
(via The Node, which also has awesome desktop calendars to download)