cephalopods
pharyngula | March 8, 2007Despite being in Japanese, you'll be able to figure out what's going on: this Tremoctopus, when threatened, unfurls a membranous webbing and swims away, trailing it behind like a cape to distract predators.
pharyngula | March 7, 2007
A recent article on Deep Sea News mentions the Ritual of 365 Points—since this is such an important reference to cephalophiliacs, I thought I'd repost my summary of a classic movie that hinges on it as a plot point.
I have seen The Calamari Wrestler. It was…indescribable. I won't even try. The basic idea, though, is that it's about pro wrestling in Japan, with a dying wrestler who undergoes a magical transformation in Pakistan to keep him alive, which also allows him to become a super-star in the ring. He battles rivals to learn a heartwarming secret at the end.
I've put a few frames below…
pharyngula | March 7, 2007The archives of Natural History magazine contain some strange old stories—like this tale from 1933, when whales were casually slaughtered, and you could write about their death throes in a popular magazine. There's a memorable image in it, at least.
Unimaginable numbers of squids, which occur in practically all parts of the oceans, are devoured by sperm whales. The certainty of this is, of course, obvious from the bulk of the mighty foragers and the size and number of the schools engaged in an unceasing quest for food throughout all the warmer sea waters of the globe. It was indelibly…
pharyngula | March 4, 2007A reader sent me this link, thinking I might find it funny. Why, yes I do.
Does anyone get Nick Magazine for their kids? We received the March issue in the mail yesterday & I find one of the cartoons to be very inappropriate for kids (m, warning potentially offensive)
It's a lame cartoon, but then that's what we might expect from a kiddie magazine. It's also offensive because it portrays a horribly incorrect pattern of arm development in a cephalopod—it's not sequential as drawn. The arms emerge during early embryonic development, as you can see here in this photo of a Euprymna embryo…
pharyngula | March 4, 2007It's been a while since I put up a collection of the beautifully weird cephalopod-themed stuff people send me. This one isn't entirely safe for work, but it's the weekend, and the naughty picture is lovely anyway.
pharyngula | March 2, 2007Adam Cuerden sent me a scan of this interesting article from the 1871 Illustrated London News, and I decided I was being terribly selfish keeping it to myself, so here you go — don't say I never share. The image that accompanies it is a wonderful example of old-time illustration; click on it for a larger version.
As the media usually does, it plays up the horrible danger of this alien creature.
THE EIGHT-ARMED CUTTLE
The aquarium at the Crystal Palace now contains, with many other interesting objects, several specimens of the poulpe, or eight-armed cuttle, Octopus vulgaris, obtained from…
pharyngula | March 2, 2007Sepia latimanus
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | February 26, 2007The pets got a little out of hand.
(Actually, it's from a page of photoshopped giant squid pictures. The squid haven't invaded the Netherlands…yet.)
pharyngula | February 26, 2007What's happening in the Antarctic? Researchers are looking at seabed changes that result from global warming.
The researchers catalogued about 1,000 species in an area of the Antarctic seabed where warming temperatures are believed to have caused the collapse of overlying ice shelves, affecting the marine life below.
"This is virgin geography," said expedition member Gauthier Chapelle. "If we don't find out what this area is like now following the collapse of the ice shelf, and what species are there, we won't have any basis to know in 20 years' time what has changed and how global warming…
pharyngula | February 23, 2007
Tsk, tsk, Zeno…you've got a lot to learn about blackmail. First of all, you threaten to release the photos to the press and family and then ask for the money to prevent that from happening; you don't get the pictures published everywhere first.
Secondly, the photos have to look something like me. OK, there is a dim resemblance in the one on the left, but I have an alibi—I was nowhere near New Zealand at the time. The one on the right is clearly very old from the costume, which is from my days in our band* back in the 1970s, before I married my wife. And she knows about the relationship. And…
pharyngula | February 23, 2007You all remember Violet, the jar-opening octopus, I'm sure—well, Violet is also quite the fierce predator. I would suggest that keeping a pet octopus is not a wise decision if you happen to be an arthropod.
pharyngula | February 23, 2007Nautilus pompilius
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | February 22, 2007
Speaking of hugging your squid today, A colossal squid, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, has been caught — it's about 10 meters long and weighs about 450 kg. The place to go for all the information is TONMO, of course; I'll just share some of the pretty pictures with you.
Sad to say, this beautiful beast is currently residing in the freezer hold of a New Zealand fishing boat, but at least it's on its way to being studied by scientists rather than chopped up as calamari (every single news article seems to be mentioning that the calamari rings would be the size of tractor tires—they don't…
pharyngula | February 21, 2007I'm sure some of you will soon be bragging about how your Squid Quotient is higher than mine.
Your Squid Quotient = 158.25
Interpreting your results: An average Squid Quotient is around 100. A SQ of 100 means you have a normal affinity for squid. A SQ above 100 means you have an attraction or fondness for squid. Below 100 means that you should probably stay away from the deep ocean.
pharyngula | February 16, 2007Nautilus belauensis copulating
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | February 14, 2007
This large squid, Taningia danae, has been caught on film, and it's amazing stuff. It swoops in on its prey, arms splayed wide, using its luminescence to disorient the target. It's beautiful!
pharyngula | February 9, 2007Euprymna tasmanica
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
pharyngula | February 8, 2007Got a jar you can't get open? Tired of straining just to get a dab of peanut butter? You need Violet, the incredible jar-opener*, complete with suction cups. Act now, and perhaps you can train her to use a can opener, too!
*Offer void where prohibited. Violet not responsible for damp, salty flavor of opened product.