cephalopods
pharyngula | December 4, 2015OK, cephalopods, what's going on here? This is that weird dweeb from junior high school who was always getting picked on by the other kids, who is probably now running a software company and buying Ferraris like I buy red pens.
Fabien Michenet
pharyngula | November 20, 2015
A dead pig was caged 300m beneath the sea, with a camera trained on it, as a subject in forensic research. It has a…visitor.
pharyngula | November 13, 2015Looking gloriously sexy for their partners and spearing prey with their tentacles.
Steinhart Aquarium
I can do neither. Way to make me feel inadequate, cuttlefish.
pharyngula | October 23, 2015The whole dang conference is available in one giant 8 hour video, and here it is.
That's kind of indigestibly huge, so I've been going at it in small pieces. I started with Gabrielle Winters at about 5 hours in, with Cephalopod Neurogenomics: Insights into the Evolution of Complex Brains, just because that's what I'm most interested in. It's a conference for general audiences, so it starts off with a good basic overview of cephalopods and neuroscience and molecular biology, and then, just as it starts getting interesting, the sound cuts out at 15 minutes…and doesn't resume for another 15…
pharyngula | October 16, 2015 Knobby Argonaut, Argonauta nodosa
Also, what's Brian Switek doing, writing about cephalopods? He's supposed to be writing about dinosaurs
!
But first impressions can be deceiving. In truth, as I later learned from Klug, the paper nautilus is not a close relative of today’s pearly nautilus, nor is it an echo of the long-lost ammonoids. The creature that had ensnared my mind is totally different.
The argonaut is an octopus, and its prehistoric look is created by the way the squishy creature reproduces. The “shell,” Klug says, “is actually an egg case secreted by two specialized arms,” and…
pharyngula | October 9, 2015Sanity-saving tip: never visualize a nautilus from the perspective of its prey.
Fact Zoo
pharyngula | October 4, 2015It will be a fine day to be glued to the computer, because TONMOCON VI is happening, and this year they'll be broadcasting it on the internet.
Some day I will be there, when I'm not stretched thin and tied down with classes.
pharyngula | October 2, 2015Pacific striped octopuses like to get up close and personal when intimate. Can you blame them?
Oooh, cephaloporny.
pharyngula | September 18, 2015I stared at this for a while, trying to sort out what was what, and my mind began to slip into madness, so I figured it was perfect for Pharyngula.
Ily Iglesias
pharyngula | September 11, 2015This is an octopus eye:
This is an octopus brain:
I have to point this out because the creationist Eric Metaxas said a remarkable thing:
But the octopus isn’t the only such miracle. “Convergent evolution” is all over nature, from powered flight evolving three times to each continent having its own version of the anteater. Think about that. As one delightfully un-self-conscious “Science Today” cover put it, convergent evolution is “nature discover[ing] the same design over and over.” Well, good for nature!
But as Luskin argues, there’s a better explanation for a tentacled mollusk having a…
pharyngula | September 9, 2015I saw it coming. The octopus genome was sequenced, and one scientist gushed about the differences between cephalopods and vertebrates, calling them "alien", and that became the news. People really need to read the paper before reporting on it, because it emphasizes the relatedness of octopuses to other animals.
But the creationists don't care about facts. They're motivated to lie. The latest: Darwinism Versus the Octopus: An Evolutionary Dilemma.
No, it's really not.
The author, Eric Metaxas, cites his friend, the intelligent design creationist Stephen Meyer, so it's no wonder he gets…
pharyngula | August 28, 2015Allonautilus scrobiculatus is a rare species that can be distinguishes from the natty Nautilus pompilius by its hairy, slimy shell. That doesn't seem like a distinction to be proud of, but I guess it takes all types to fill an ocean.
Nautilus pompilius (left) swimming next to a rare Allonautilus scrobiculatus (right) off of Ndrova Island in Papua New Guinea.Peter Ward
pharyngula | August 14, 2015Jebus. The stupidity of the media is maddening. Here are two articles now out there: Don't freak out, but scientists think octopuses 'might be aliens' after DNA study and Octopuses ‘are aliens’, scientists decide after DNA study. These reporters are embarrassing.
Not to freak you out or anything, but scientists have just revealed that octopuses are so weird they’re basically aliens.
The first full genome sequence shows of that octopuses (NOT octopi) are totally different from all other animals – and their genome shows a striking level of complexity with 33,000 protein-coding genes…