cephalopods
pharyngula | September 21, 2012Yeah, sorry, but at the vertex of all those slimy tentacular columns lies this hard, knife-edged, pointy, shiny, muscular beak.
(via Naturetrek)
pharyngula | September 7, 2012To mate many times, see the eggs laid in droves, and to swim among the mighty accomplishments of fecund females!
(via Moss Landing Marine Labs)
pharyngula | August 22, 2012A recent meeting of neuroscientists tried to define a set of criteria for that murky phenomenon called "consciousness". I don't know how successful they were; they've come out with a declaration on consciousness that isn't exactly crystal clear. It seems to involve the existence of neural circuitry that exhibits specific states that modulate behavior.
The neural substrates of emotions do not appear to be confined to cortical structures. In fact, subcortical neural networks aroused during affective states in humans are also critically important for generating emotional behaviors in animals.…
pharyngula | August 17, 2012The phrase has entirely different connotations for cephalopods.
Bonus! Spot the female before going to the diagram.
(via Giant Cuttlefish)
pharyngula | July 27, 2012
(It's from the California Seafood Council, but let's not hold that against them)
pharyngula | July 20, 2012The dumpling squid is as unprepossessing as its name implies, but beneath that plump exterior lurks a savage lust. They mate for 1-3 hours, to the point where they're completely physically exhausted, and an easy target for a predator…but it's all so worth it.
pharyngula | July 13, 2012Give me grizzled, battered, and well-worn. Plasticky, smooth, and fresh is so freaking uninteresting.
pharyngula | June 29, 2012A reader sent in this photo of a captured pelagic octopus and observer. I know…most of you are going to be interested in the mundane mammal here.
I don't think the beast has any kind of scientific interest in that lovely cephalopod.
pharyngula | June 18, 2012
All I want to know is…who instigated this unholy coupling? Was it the dolphin getting kinky? Was it the octopus feeling amorous? Or was it possibly a mutually agreed-upon exploration of new sexual frontiers?
pharyngula | June 14, 2012Just the title was enough to make me squeamish: Penetration of the Oral Mucosa by Parasite-Like Sperm Bags of Squid: A Case Report in a Korean Woman. It seems the woman thought she was getting dinner; the squid saw a last chance to reproduce. As is common with these kinds of misunderstandings, neither got what they wanted.
We report a case of oral stings by spermatophores of the squid Todarodes pacificus. A 63-yr-old Korean woman experienced severe pain in her oral cavity immediately after eating a portion of parboiled squid along with its internal organs. She did not swallow the portion, but…