cephalopods
pharyngula | April 13, 2007Octopus berrima
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | April 11, 2007Uh, right. That line comes from a story in a 1949 issue of Mechanix Illustrated, "Octopus wrestling is my hobby".
The story involves a ferocious octopus with 25-foot long arms that fought an entire village of people armed with clubs, knives, and spears—the description of the battle isn't at all clear, but it sounds like the monster is coming to the surface in shallow water and fighting all these people milling around. It's a very silly story.
It was difficult to spear the octopus if it were far back in the coral caverns. But Roo had his own system for drawing the creature out. Retreating a…
pharyngula | April 10, 2007
The title of this article is terribly misleading: "The Octopus that can open drink bottles". I was thinking it would be so cool to have an octopus on your shoulder, and you hold up your beer bottle, and he reaches out an arm and twists the top off for you. And then you read a little further and discover that the little smart-aleck will only do it if you open it first and put some octopus food inside for it. I wouldn't mind a bit of shrimp or crab bobbing about in my beer, but having to open the bottle first to put it in there defeats the whole purpose of carrying a bottle-opening octopus…
pharyngula | April 6, 2007Sepioteuthis lessoniana
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | April 3, 2007
Those wicked farkers have taken this charming photo of a clutch of innocent cephalopod embryos and … and … oh, I cannot even describe the perversities they have wreaked upon them.
Do you think if I work up a good head of outrage, I'll be able to get on Fox News, get a few people fired, and shut down the obscene display? Billy Donohue, if you're reading this, give me a call … I need tips.
pharyngula | March 31, 2007…except that I can't stand poker or gambling of any kind, and I refuse to believe that cephalopods would be stupid enough to indulge in it.
Maybe it's mocking the dumb one-eyed squid morph.
pharyngula | March 30, 2007Octopus mototi
In case you're baffled by the rather arty shot, here's another image:
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | March 26, 2007The LA Times has a cool story about the growing population of Humboldt squid off the Southern California coast — tens of millions of the big beasts, and they aren't shy.
The frenzy built and Kerstitch, as the lone diver shooting still photographs and with no bright movie lights to deter the predators, was set upon.
A squid grabbed his right swim fin and pulled downward. He kicked it away but another grabbed his head. The cactus-like tentacles found his neck, the only part of his body not covered with neoprene.
He bashed the squid with his dive light, far less bright than the movie lights, and…
pharyngula | March 25, 2007This week in our regular collection of reader-submitted cephaloweirdness, the theme is "domesticity".
Maybe you're the kind of person who doesn't have ordinary garden gnomes…
…and the iron work around your house has a theme…
…and you see this and think "AwwOOOOOOO!!! Hubba hubba!"
You know what's next, right?
And then you work and slave to get them the nicest toys…
…and a healthy diet so they grow big and strong…
…and next thing you know, their teenage buddies are all hanging about the house, making a mess of the place.
I'm just relieved there aren't any grandkids yet. Just think what…
pharyngula | March 23, 2007Grimpoteuthis sp.
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | March 22, 2007It'll make it all rubbery!
I hadn't realized that there were microwave ovens around capable of handling a half-ton of meat.
pharyngula | March 21, 2007
Here's a story of a strange large squid carcass hauled up from the Atlantic deep—researchers expect it was between 16 and 24 feet long when alive and intact, but the specimen was a bit gelatinous and damaged and nibbled upon. It's been tentatively identified as Asperoteuthis acanthoderma, which has previously only been found in the Pacific.
Although muscular squid zip around to catch food, squid with gelatinous bodies typically float in deep, dark waters and let prey find them, Young says. Pacific A. acanthoderma have glowing, prey-alluring pads at the end of their tentacles. Sucker-laden…
pharyngula | March 17, 2007Did I say it was St Patrick's Day? I was mistaken…it is actually AIR KRAKEN DAY!
While you're celebrating with excessive imbibage today, keep scanning the skies—about the time you fall over backwards and your eyes are glazing and defocusing, you might just spot the fabulous air kraken gliding overhead.
It's been a light week for cephalopod art, and I just have a few more examples below the fold.
Someone in Hawaii needs to find this, buy it, and ship it to me:
This splendid image is actually how I see myself—it's very revealing.
pharyngula | March 16, 2007Don't rush to get tickets to New Zealand just yet—the colossal squid is frozen in a block of ice, and they don't plan to even start thawing it for another year (there aren't any other reasons to visit NZ than to see the squid, right?).
To minimise handling of the precious specimen, the colossal squid will probably have its temperature raised, over days, in the tank in which it will finally be "fixed".
"We don't want to move it too much," says Marshall.
"When a thing like that is in the water, it's neutrally buoyant.
"But, of course, when you get it out of the water, you've got a big lump of…
pharyngula | March 16, 2007Idiosepius notoides
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | March 14, 2007
Umm, well, I very much like this stuffed giant squid (15' long!), but I really can't justify an $1800 toy. Maybe someday when I grow up and am rich and have some grandkids I need to spoil…
He sure looks neat-o, though.
pharyngula | March 11, 2007Sepiadarium austrinum
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | March 9, 2007You're all wondering where the Friday Cephalopod might be…it's delayed. I'm spending my day in seclusion in my secret lair, hammering out some work that's already way overdue, and I don't have access to a scanner or my books or any technology beyond the necessities for writing. I will put it up later.
For now, you'll have to make do with some cephalart.
pharyngula | March 8, 2007Fark is having an octopus photoshop contest — most of the entries make me go "eh", but there are a few nice ones.
Phil Plait thinks this could be a symbol of rapprochement between the brilliant analysts of the natural world at Pharyngula and those slack-jawed people who stare dully at the sky at Bad Astronomy. (I kid, astronomers probably think a little bit now and then, too.)
pharyngula | March 8, 2007Newsweek has a story about the capture of the colossal squid, and it sounds like a) there will be video footage released next month, and b) the boat captain made a good bit of money off of it.
Dolan, the Ministry of Fisheries observer, remembers being surprised at how docile and sluggish the squid was. "It really didn't put up much of a fight," he says. "Its tentacles were moving back and forth, but that's about it. It certainly wasn't grabbing crew members and pulling them back into the sea."
As it happens, Bennett had brought along a video camera in order to film a small documentary about…