cephalopods
pharyngula | April 10, 2009Abralia veranyi
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | April 8, 2009
If your taste runs more to birds, there are some interesting chimeric jays as well.
pharyngula | April 3, 2009I mean, really, giant steam-powered robotic octopods rising from the deep to take over the world? How many people fantasize about that?
Although, if it were me, I wouldn't be focusing so much on the wicked biped with the gun trying to frustrate the steam-o-pod.
pharyngula | April 3, 2009Vampyroteuthis infernalis
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | March 27, 2009Sepia peterseni
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | March 22, 2009A children's movie titled Lost and Found is out; it features a little boy and a penguin. Bleh, you say, penguins are so trite…there is nothing compelling in that. However, there is a scene in which the two protagonists are rescued by a friendly cephalopod.
I must endorse this excellent attempt to beguile young children into trusting giant tentacled entities — it will serve us well when the Old Ones come.
(via Sarah Ditum)
pharyngula | March 20, 2009Euprymna tasmanica
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | March 18, 2009
Several new and spectacular cephalopod fossils from 95 million years ago have been found in Lebanon. "Spectacular" is not hyperbole — these specimens have wonderfully well-preserved soft parts, mineralized in fine-grained calcium phosphate, and you can see…well, take a look.
(Click for larger image)Keuppia levante sp. nov. from the Upper Cenomanian (Metoicoceras geslinianum Zone) of Hâdjoula (Lebanon). A,
holotype, MSNM i26320a. B, sketch of the holotype.
The arms (all eight of them) are intact, right down to the suckers; muscles and gills are preserved; the animal has an ink sac; there is a…
edyong | March 17, 2009The giant cephalopods (squids and octopuses) of the deep sea have captured the imagination for centuries. But despite our fascination with these creatures, they are still enigmas, their behaviour illuminated only by the occasional lucky video or the presence of scars on animals they fight with. For many species, including the famous giant squid, we still know relatively little about what they eat and what position they occupy in their ecosystems.
Yves Cherel from the Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chize has some new answers about the behaviour of deep-sea cephalopods and they came from a…
pharyngula | March 13, 2009
The hyper Japanese narration somehow made me think of The Calamari Wrestler.
pharyngula | March 13, 2009Octopus sp.
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | March 6, 2009A plexiglass box full of blinking circuitry might be your image of the future of artificial intelligence, but I'll have you know the real deal will be the achievement of maximum cephalopod density in a convenient cubical container. The tentacles snaking out the sides will just be a bonus.
pharyngula | February 26, 2009An enthusiastic cephalopod jumped the gun on their plan for world domination.
An octopus today managed to pry loose a water-control valve at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, flooding the facility with more than 200 gallons of saltwater.
If you're living somewhere below sea level, watch out.
pharyngula | February 15, 2009It's Octopus Week at the Seattle Aquarium, and to kick it off, yesterday they introduced two octopuses to each other for a public courtship. Watch the story from King 5 news.
pharyngula | February 13, 2009One of our colleagues here at Pharyngula, Cuttlefish, OM, is apparently somewhat upset at the injustices against certain cephalopods. Be of good cheer! Our plans are coming to fruition, soon, and all the world will be under the tentacle, thanks to global warming and…Science!
edyong | February 7, 2009A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a dolphin that has mastered the trick of killing cuttlefish and elaborately preparing them for a meal. It was a great story that highlighted just how intelligent and versatile dolphins can be, but it was a bit of a bittersweet report. The cuttlefish didn't exactly come out of it very well, which is a shame - they are intelligent creatures in their own right, every bit as fascinating as dolphins are. So it's with great glee that I report a new study that should help to restore the cuttlefish's credibility and cement its position as one of the cleverer…
pharyngula | February 6, 2009"I am not a number — I am a baby cuttlefish!"
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
edyong | February 1, 2009The Japanese pinecone fish searches for food with living headlights. This ÂÂhand-sized fish harbours colonies of light-producing bacteria in two organs on its lower jaw. The beams from these organs shine forward, and when night falls and the fish goes searching for food, its jaw-lamps light the way.
Elsewhere in the Pacific Ocean, the Hawaiian bobtail squid also uses luminous bacteria, but theirs act as a cloaking device. They produce a dim glow that matches the strength of moonlight from above, hiding the squid's silhouette from hungry fish below. It's a mutual relationship; the squid gets…