Dec 30 2011

Friday Cephalopod: Atrocity!

Categories:

Cephalopods, Organisms

by PZ Myers

Weep for the poor creatures.

But note the steely glint of vengeance in the eye of their living compatriots.

(Also on Sb)

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26 comments

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1

AussieMike

30 December 2011 at 9:27 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I sorry but the video on the page that the top image links to is priceless. Steven Fry’s friend gets shagged by a parrot! You’ll just have to see for yourself.
2

AussieMike

30 December 2011 at 9:30 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Oh and yes…the poor creatures. However, it does look a lot like a bunch of guys standing around holding dismembered devil penises. But that’s just me.
3

ManOutOfTime

30 December 2011 at 9:32 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

An atrocity! A tasty, tasty atrocity …
4

Gregory Greenwood

30 December 2011 at 9:41 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Enjoy your triumph while you can, vertebrates. Cephalopod nemisis comes for you with many a barbed tentacle and chitinous beak…
5

Aquaria

30 December 2011 at 9:49 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Looks like it’s time for some fried calamari, pasta al nìvuro di sìccia and arroz con calamares if you ask me.
6

paulburnett

30 December 2011 at 9:58 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

My fishing buddy went out into the Pacific from San Francisco Bay and said those Giant Humboldt Squid were so thick on the surface you could have walked across the water and not sunk – “thick as a kelp bed”. They’re changing their feeding habits as the ocean warms.
7

nemryn

30 December 2011 at 10:42 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Sorry, but I’m not seeing any vengeance in those eyes. Just ‘blub blub I am a squid’.
8

Pan

30 December 2011 at 10:52 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Feel free to call me a speciesist, but… do these humans really all look exactly alike?
9

Glen Davidson

30 December 2011 at 11:10 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Vengeance–if you touch me. That’s the cephalopod way.

Not a social lot, and no more concerned for a squid’s fate than for those hideous bony things that come poking around.

Glen Davidson
10

ogremeister

30 December 2011 at 11:20 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Missionaries for Great Cthulhu, out to spread the word. Martyred in their zeal to proselytize to human kind.
They shall be canonized in good time.
11

scooterskutre

30 December 2011 at 1:01 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Those squid are being held up by creatures that are bound for extinction.
12

shouldbeworking

30 December 2011 at 1:12 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Why are the lyrics for the Newfoundland song “Squid Jigging Grounds” now running through my mind?

Oh no, a sudden craving for Newfie Screech…

I’se the boy that builds the boat
And I’ve the boy that sails her…

May Ceiling Cat take you PZ!
13

ebotebo

30 December 2011 at 1:50 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Ah yes, Aquaria! Me first wife would cook up the most tantalizing squid(calamari)dishes. The only thing is I’ve not found but two people(me and a friend)who enjoyed her recipes of Humboldt squid!
14

ebotebo

30 December 2011 at 1:56 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I might add, her cooking wizardry is the only thing I miss about her, although I do wish my second Love, Bonnie would at least try some of these yummy dishes I make! I must add though, it is difficult to find fresh squid in Omaha!!
15

Ichthyic

30 December 2011 at 2:01 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

My fishing buddy went out into the Pacific from San Francisco Bay and said those Giant Humboldt Squid were so thick on the surface you could have walked across the water and not sunk – “thick as a kelp bed”. They’re changing their feeding habits as the ocean warms.

this brings up a serious issue.

Humboldt Squid are fast becoming the dominant predator in the Eastern Pacific, as global warming has changed the temperature and current patterns to allow them to move ever further northwards and take advantage of new prey items.

they’re destroying entire ecosysems along the way.

http://www.topp.org/blog/humboldt_squid_taking_over

If these fisherman are actually interested in taking these things, more power to em.

I don’t recall Humboldt squid being particularly tasty, but they ARE edible, and there is a commercial fishery in Mexico for them.
16

Ichthyic

30 December 2011 at 2:07 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Humboldt Squid recipe:

http://shine.yahoo.com/work-money/humboldt-squid-foodfest-recipes-797129.html

If you live in CA, write to Fish and Game and NMFS to encourage developing a commercial fishery for these things.
17

scottportman

30 December 2011 at 2:43 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Seems to me eating squid makes a lot more sense than eating a lot of other sea creatures, given their very fast growth and relative resilience to overfishing, and in this case, rapidly expanding range.

My new favorite “seafood” – actually “freshwaterfood” is bighead carp. These are those invasive monsters clogging up the Mississippi River drainage, outcompeting native fish, and creating hazards for boaters. There’s really no down side to eating them, it’s almost a community responsibility. Anyway, they are pretty good – lots of bones but not muddy and nasty like common carp. Here’s a 12th century Iraqi recipe from al-Baghdadi that I made the other night, that turns an invasive species nightmare into a pretty good meal:

2 cups bighead carp (steamed, flaked, pick out all the bones)
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 medium onion or a few shallots, minced
2 eggs
1 tbsp each: cumin and corriander
1 tsp cinnamon
salt to taste
Half-half sesame and olive oil for cooking

Mix all ingredients except the oil thoroughly in a bowl, and form into patties. Put some olive/sesame oil in a skillet and heat til almost smoking. Fry patties quickly on both sides. Basically an invasive species fish cake, good as a hamburger type sandwich, or as it is.

C’mon all you biology types – you know how you feel about invasives. Go ahead and do your part.
18

ralfmuschall

30 December 2011 at 3:16 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ogremeister (#10): Here is a holy squid baptizing a man in Cthulhu’s name: http://i.imgur.com/KmcYG.jpg
19

saguhh00

30 December 2011 at 4:13 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Laugh now humans, you’re gonna have a surprise when you meet Cthulhu.
20

Ichthyic

30 December 2011 at 4:33 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Laugh now humans, you’re gonna have a surprise when you meet Cthulhu.

I’ve just discovered that Cthulhu is a traitor to the cause!

In fact, he’s become a “hero” *ptooie!* trying to save the world instead!

This message brought to you by:

Supporters of Dagon for Despot.
21

ogremeister

30 December 2011 at 4:40 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ralfmuschall (#18): Nice! But is forced conversion at beakpoint really sincere? Methinks the Great Old One would prefer horror as a more persuasive tool than disgust.

Perhaps if the ink was acidic….
22

ogremeister

30 December 2011 at 4:52 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Ichthyic (#20):

In fact, he’s become a “hero” *ptooie!* trying to save the world instead!

Yes, but only so that he may later destroy it. Much in the same way that a farmer protects his crop so that he may later raze it with his harvester.

Devious are the tentacled.
23

'Tis Himself, OM.

30 December 2011 at 5:59 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

shouldbeworking #12

Why are the lyrics for the Newfoundland song “Squid Jigging Grounds” now running through my mind?

I had the same reaction.

Oh, this is the place where the fishermen gather,
With oilskins and boots and Cape Anns battened down;
All sizes of figures with squid lines and jiggers,
They congregate here on the squid-jigging ground.
24

cry4turtles

30 December 2011 at 7:43 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Time for the squeamish to chime in…Oooo Yuck!
25

razzlefrog

31 December 2011 at 12:30 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Oooo Yuck!
26

shouldbeworking

31 December 2011 at 2:29 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I *knew* you were gonna say that! Think of it as bait for really big fish.