cephalopods
pharyngula | March 7, 2008Heteroteuthis hawaiiensis
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | March 6, 2008Ooooh, it's a simple recipe and accompanying video for cooking octopus. I want to do this. My wife and daughter would see that video with rising horror, and are probably greatly relieved that they've got me quarantined in the frozen midwest, far from any coast where I might actually come home some evening with a large mollusc and a hungry glitter in my eye.
pharyngula | March 3, 2008OK, I say uncle. Everyone's been sending me the story of the hexapus, the six-armed octopus found in England. Sure, he's cute…
…but I'm afraid it's not that big a deal. It's an ordinary sort of error — we know that cephalopod limbs develop from primordia that exhibit a pattern of fusion as it is, so an epigenetic error that causes either an excess of fusions or failure of arm buds to form isn't a particularly dramatic event. Now, if they breed this octopus and find a heritable propensity for limb development failur, then I'll be much more interested, since that means we'd be able to look at…
pharyngula | February 29, 2008Metasepia pfefferi
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | February 27, 2008Wouldn't some variant of this image make for a most excellent tattoo?
(I expect the Trophy Wife will come screeching into the parking lot any minute now, to tell me no, no, no while hitting me with a rolled up newspaper.)
pharyngula | February 22, 2008Loligo opalescens
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | February 18, 2008Oh, joy! Carl Zimmer has published a profile of Roger Hanlon, the well-known cephalopod expert, and he is specifically discussing the work on camouflage that I previously summarized. I've also cited his work on sexual mimicry and nuptial dances — this is a fellow whose work all true worshipers of the cephalopod should be following.
pharyngula | February 18, 2008This is no fair. I left Seattle 30 years ago, and now they're celebrating Octopus Week? Maybe if they'd thought of it then, I wouldn't have moved to Oregon, and Utah, And Pennsylvania, and Minnesota.
pharyngula | February 15, 2008Approximately 1.4 million people have emailed me with a link to this article on body modification (I'm not complaining, do feel free to send me stuff). It includes this picture.
I'm sorry, but no thanks. That's a wanna-be kluge. It's pathetic. The guy has just had some kind of silicone rings stuck under his skin, and I am unimpressed.
Here's what I want.
Give me a call when we've got gene modification and some method of reiterating ontogenesis in my arms. I want neural control of a sophisticated muscular structure, not some inert faux lump. Adding sharp-edged teeth to the structure is…
pharyngula | January 24, 2008Ken Cope, a regular commenter here (come on, you guys all know him) sent along some cephalopodian artwork a friend of his does. After browsing a bit, it was sinking in: Ken is friends with an animation artist and roller derby star, one who wins awards for most penalties in a season no less, and who paints toilet seats for fun. How cool is that?
And people think I'm strange…
If I'm ever in LA, you're going to have to introduce me, Ken. I have fond memories of watching roller derby with my great-grandmother.
pharyngula | January 18, 2008Something different this week: click the image and see David Gallo present a series of short video clips of cephalopods in action.
pharyngula | January 11, 2008How sweet: this octopus got a Mr Potato Head for Christmas, and now he won't let anyone take it away.
Hasbro really must come out with a new line of Mr Potato Head features that includes beaks and suckers and tentacles, and then they'll have the cephalopod market completely locked up.
pharyngula | January 3, 2008In case you have a tough time keeping the squid family tree straight, here's a nifty simple diagram of cephalopod evolution.
And if that's too complicated for you, there's always the Intelligent Design version.
pharyngula | December 28, 2007It's still Friday, isn't it? Some of you have noticed there was some screw-up in post scheduling, which has been fixed now…and here at last is the Friday Cephalopod.
Sepia sp.
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | December 21, 2007Sepiadarium sp.
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.