Comments

  5. Chris Davis says

    I have this blog entirely to thank for turning a mild background interest into a deepening admiration and affection for these splendid beasties.

    Time to petition Pixar to raise the consciousness of the world.

  9. SaraJ says

    I want to love the little guy, I really do, but he just looks way to spider-y for me. And I hate spiders… a lot.

  10. Mike Haubrich, FCD says

    From your post title I thought it would be Hematoma fasciata.

  12. Anonymous says

    Chris Davis, you should check out the short animation Oktapodi if you haven’t already. It’s way more fun than anything Pixar’s come out with lately.

  17. says

    Representatives of a local Christian church tried to lure a seventh-grader at Russell Middle School into a church van last week, school district officials said.

    As a result, the principal sent students home with a letter to parents asking that they instruct their children not to talk to strangers, and the district has beefed up security around the property at 3825 E. Montebello Drive.

    holy shit.

    I mean really. Holy shit.

    Are the religious taking cues from child moslest…. oh.

    Never mind.

  18. Holbach says

    This one should have had a tattoo on one arm with a human brandishing a trident to match the human leg with the octopus brandishing a scimitar on the May 5 post.

  20. Holbach says

    Rev.BigDumbChimp @ 17

    Sort of immaterial if they do or don’t believe in a god. Slime is slime, whether directed by a god or not.

  21. charley says


    Representatives of a local Christian church tried to lure a seventh-grader at Russell Middle School into a church van last week, school district officials said. As a result, the principal sent students home with a letter to parents asking that they instruct their children not to talk to strangers, and the district has beefed up security around the property at 3825 E. Montebello Drive.

    If that were my kid I would push for attempted kidnapping charges.

  22. Chris Davis says

    @Anon #12: Thanks so much for that. I’d actually seen it before, but forgotten it. Nice to see it again.

    It’s a worthy film, but it seems to that Pixar has the muscle and systems to make ockies at least as adorable and reach a wider audience with a full-length feature. If they can make a romance between a trash-compactor and an (utterly lickable) iBot plausible and endearing, they could make the world into cephalophiles.

  23. me2 says

    This is my favourite species, I think they’re gorgeous – which is why I chose to have it tattooed around my navel.
    They’re really beautiful.

  27. Peter McKellar says

    If that were my kid I would push for attempted kidnapping charges.

    I thought capital crimes must be handled by the police and district attorney – its not like someone has to make a complaint for a murder to be investigated. Surely the police are required by law to go around and investigate. If it was my kid I would be screaming to know why the church kidnappers are not already arrested and trying to plead their way off death row….

  29. says

    Ah the blue ringed octopus, so pretty, so small, and can kill you in 15 minutes. One of my favorite cephalopods.

  34. sasqwatch says

    “squidskrieg”… lol Damn good drummer on that Nazi squid vid. Randomly delicious.

  36. FierceGeekChick says

    @ New Atheist #14

    No, that isn’t unconstitutional. It’s a private school, so they aren’t acting as agents of the state. As screwed up as it may be, the school is most likely within its rights. I believe that most private schools have parents sign a contract that states that the parents and students will abide by the school’s rules and religious principles, no matter how archaic and messed up they may be. Going to the other school’s prom is probably a violation of those rules. Crappy, but his parents chose to send him there.

  37. FierceGeekChick says

    @ New Atheist #14

    No, that isn’t unconstitutional. It’s a private school, so they aren’t acting as agents of the state. As screwed up as it may be, the school is most likely within its rights. I believe that most private schools have parents sign a contract that states that the parents and students will abide by the school’s rules and religious principles, no matter how archaic and messed up they may be. Going to the other school’s prom is probably a violation of those rules. Crappy, but his parents chose to send him there.

  38. FierceGeekChick says

    Argh! Sorry about the double post. I swear it looked like it hadn’t gone through.

  39. Happy Tentacles says

    Pretty and lethal at the same time! Cephaloporn doesn’t get much more alluring!

  40. Peter McKellar says

    Makethemostoflife:

    Been scuba diving with them in Sydney!

    where? Gordon’s Bay is a favourite spot – many squid but not that many octopi that I saw. I haven’t been diving for years now (or snorkelling for that matter) but Shelley Beach used to have a few small octopi (but not blue ringed)

  41. Peter McKellar says

    sorry – Byron Bay/Shelley Beach – same diff ;) That should read SHELLY Beach.

  42. GeoffR says

    we find beautiful examples of these in pools at low tide at Moreton Island, Queensland,Australia. When you disturb them the coloured rings flash vividly. Chilling to know that if they bite you they can easily kill.
    Makes us worried about walking out to our boats through the shallows at night.

  43. puseaus says

    Bet they don’t think human toes look sexy enough to take a bite or kill.

  44. says

    They’re not poisonous [to eat]; they’re venomous [when they bite].

    So if you wanted to be mean to the poor little critter, you could barbecue it.

    Hmm–I wonder why sea critters aren’t protected as we do for migratory birds?

  45. says

    Thanks for posting the Oktapodi link–the original one on the art films web site has expired. I’m off to paste this one into my old blog post.

  46. MadScientist says

    Oooo – I love the blue decorations – can they change colors like the stripes on a cuttlefish’s face?

  47. says

    Pretty little feller, isn’t he? We used to play with these guys at the beach when I was a kid, until the kids started dying from the venomous bite and the newspapers started a scare campaign. If you let wildlife bite you then you deserve what you get, I reckon.

  48. James F says

    #47

    See Also: “Deserts: how to die in them,” “The stick: second most useful thing ever,” and “Poisonous and venomous arachnids, insects, animals, trees, shrubs, fish and sheep of Australia, volumes 1-42”

    /Douglas Adams

  49. Aquaria says

    So that’s what happened to my mom’s tiger print swimsuit!

    Seriously, beautiful cephalopod. :::Swoon:::

  50. Samantha Vimes says

    Thanks, Aquaria– I’d been planning to ask how the octopus knew what a tiger looks like!

  51. eddie says

    Thanks, James F, for the DA quote. I recently found an aussie horror flick on youtube where the sheep were deadly.
    Can’t find it now but recall it was way funnier tham The Cars That Ate Paris.

  52. GeoffR says

    “If you let wildlife bite you then you deserve what you get, I reckon.”
    I hear ya John,but death seems like a pretty harsh penalty for inadvertantly brushing against one of these little guys.