In yesterday’s Friday Cephalopod, I asked, “Where are the tattoos?” I guess I was being too obscure — I was referring to the latin name of the animal, Octopus maorum, which just means Maori octopus. Anyway, sometimes being too oblique pays off, because Ryan and Sean replied by sending me photos of octopus tattoos.
I do have a Trophy Wife, but I think she’d slap me silly if I went out and got something like those.
This is a wonderfully done, very clear explanation of squid color, made using simple hand-drawn animation. See, this is communicating science!
CreatureCast Episode 1 from Casey Dunn on Vimeo.
(From the Creature Cast at the Dunn lab)
Best part: it glows in the dark.
Added by popular demand:
If you’re considering a pet, you have to weigh the pros and cons.
Wow, when they’re all laid out like that, you just have to choose the squid.
Now wait — maybe you’ve got some brain-damaged children running around who chose poorly, or you flipped a coin and are now stuck with the decision to get puppies. Don’t despair! Get both! In fact, get lots of puppies — they make excellent squid chow, and they’re also useful fresh stock to have around in case peckish atheists come to visit.
These are all the same species, even the same individual, from photographs taken within a short time as it was jetting away.
You can find a larger image on TONMO.
I swear, there’s a moment in this video where the octopus looks like it’s trying to get intimate with Steve Leonard.
