cephalopods
pharyngula | December 25, 2009Octopus alpheus
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | December 17, 2009Sepia sp.
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | December 15, 2009Yes! I've seen the octopuses using coconut shells, and it's very, very cool. Here's the video:
(This is one of the dilemmas of having a popular blog. I just checked my inbox, and I've been getting notifications about this observation at the rate of about 20 per hour since yesterday. Thanks everyone, I really appreciate it, and you should feel free to send me links to appropriate material — but I may have to repost stuff two or three times to make sure everyone notices that I caught on to the really hot topics of the day.)
pharyngula | December 14, 2009Yikes! I step away from the computer for a few hours, and kaboom, everyone on the planet emails me to tell me I must see this video of an octopus using a coconut shell for a home. Well, yes, I must, and so must you.
Although where did everyone get this idea that I am obsessed with coconuts?
edyong | December 14, 2009
Octopuses are masters of camouflage that can change their shape, colour and texture to perfectly blend into their environment. But the soft bodies that make them such excellent con artists also make them incredibly vulnerable, should they be spotted. Some species have solved that problem with their fierce intellect, which allows them to make use of other materials that are much harder. The veined octopus, for example, dons a suit of armour made of coconut shells.
The veined octopus (Amphioctus marginatus) lives in sandy, exposed habitats that have little in the way of cover. To protect…
edyong | December 13, 2009There's a great octopus story coming your way tomorrow. For that reason, I thought it was about time to republish this - the first ever post I wrote for Not Exactly Rocket Science, about the ever-amazing mimic octopus. This article was a game-changer for me. I submitted it to the Daily Telegraph's Young Science Writer competition in 2004, while still struggling with a failing attempt at research. It was awarded a runner-up prize - not a win, but enough to convince me that I could actually write and that I enjoyed it. Looking back on it now, it's decent but a bit rough. It also took forever to…
pharyngula | December 13, 2009It is the Cephalopodmas Season, when tentacles and the deep sea are on everyone's mind, and that concentrated contemplation of all matters squidly must occasionally erupt into artful self-expression. Below the fold you will find a few beautiful images that have leapt into my mailbox lately.
We begin with the mysterious case of John Holbo. Last year, he began his descent into madness with a series of greeting cards featuring siphonophorans; the obsession deepened with the creation of a book, Squid and Owl that, despite a little avian sidetracking, represents an investment in molluscan thinking…
pharyngula | December 12, 2009This is Asher, who made a squid in his sewing class. I wish I'd had a class like that when I was his age.
(via Millard Fillmore's Bathtub)
pharyngula | December 11, 2009You've only got a few days left to enter: Everything Octopus is giving away a cephalopod tree ornament, and all you have to do is subscribe to the site and leave a comment. Easy!
I already own this very same ornament, and will be putting up our family christmas tree this weekend. I've received a lot of 'pod gear from readers over the last few years, and I'm planning to decorate the tree with lots of it (I'll put up a photo when it's done). If you won this ornament, you'll be on the path to outdoing the awesomeness of my tree. It's something to dream of, you know.
pharyngula | December 11, 2009Enteroctopus dofleini
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | December 9, 2009I'd happily hang that on my wall. The trophy wife would even more cheerfully tear it down, shred it, and set it on fire. But then, she's the one with taste*.
*Don't judge her by her taste in men. That was a momentary lapse of reason, a one time thing.
pharyngula | December 7, 2009It must be funny pages day at Pharyngula — Get Fuzzy was just for me, I think.
pharyngula | December 4, 2009Be still my heart…Isabelli Rossellini dressed up as a squid demonstrating their mating ritual.
This is much more convincing than the God Equation.
pharyngula | December 4, 2009Loligo opalescens
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.