This is pretty nifty: it’s a nine-tentacled octopus. Count ’em!

If I may be so bold as to remind you all of the basics of cephalopod development and evolution, the primitive condition in cephalopods is to form ten arms; in the octopods, one pair is secondarily lost by some unidentified suppression in development. It’s not too surprising that there would be some low frequency of re-expression of members of the fifth and normally missing pair — and the article mentions that the Akashi Seafood Council reports that they see this once in every 20 years or so.

They should keep an eye open for these kinds of developmental abnormalities — they can be an indicator of stressors in the environment if the frequency starts to rise.

Octopus briareus, the Caribbean reef octopus

Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide ^{(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll)}, by Mark Norman.

(via My Confined Space)

Watasenia scintellans

Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide ^{(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll)}, by Mark Norman.

One last compendium, I think, unless I find unusually large quantities of Cephalopod Awareness links in my mailbox tomorrow.

• A whole museum dedicated to octopus balls? The Japanese can be very strange, Tikistitch.

• How to eat a cephalopod, if you’re a mosasaur.

• Nifty squid art.

• What? A whole collection of squid posts at Progressive Gold, and I’ve been missing them?

• What? Is that woman vomiting up a tentacle? Or is that supposed to be her tongue? I don’t know whether I’m supposed to gag or be aroused.

• Babies are always cute.

• A Nude, Transexual, Pornographic LOLCthulhu. Enough said.

• All of Meg Lyman’s octopuses are adorable.

• The Elder Gods are very clean.

• A few more from the Cuttlefish Poet:

  Architeuthis Double-Dactyl

  Haughtily, naughtily
  Deep-sea biologists
  Claimed “We will never find
  Fifty-foot squid!”

  Nobody told, though, the
  Cryptoteuthologist
  Blissfully ignorant,
  That’s what he did.

  Nautilus Limerick

  The nautilus swims back-to front
  Which is quite an unusual stunt
  But his shell–which is odd
  For a cephalopod–
  When he bumps into things, bears the brunt!

  Cuttlefish Physiology Limerick

  Look again, and you might doubt your eyes:
  It’s the cuttlefish, cloaked in disguise!
  As it changes, within
  Its remarkable skin
  Are chromatophores, changing in size.

More cephalopods are being celebrated everywhere. Send me more!

• Cephalopod eyes, and a question: Does your god like octopuses more than men? I don’t know about you, but any gods I might have would be cold and cruel and regard us both with unheeding contempt.

• A tentacled bra? For belly dancing? Paging Kristine…

• Peter documents attacks by cephalopods on humans. There are three. That’s pathetic, and somebody needs to put some spine in those invertebrates.

• I had not realized that the Canadians were trying to usurp our day with Canadian Thanksgiving. Do they serve stuffed squid on this day? With poutine?

• We are advised to visit the alt.sex.cthulhu archive. Sensing a nameless dread, I recoiled in horror…and I hate to break the dreadful news, but the tentacled ones really aren’t interested in our meat-swaddled bony bodies, dry hairy skins, and inflexible, clumsy limbs in that way.

• Watch out: squid can be overfished too.

• Where cephalopods writhe, knitters are sure to follow. They are adorable.

• True dedication is having your octopus inked into your skin.

• If nothing else, you have to love squid for their contributions to neuroscience.

We have another round of cephalopodic loveliness. Send me more!

• Chris Clarke contemplates the word “sepia”.

• Why chiropractors shouldn’t mess around with invertebrates.

• Kevin submits the ubiquitous octopus vs. shark movie.

• How can something so cute be angry? (Oh, man, I hear that one all the time.)

• Poulperia. I think it’s a variant on Santeria.

• Roger Burnham sends us some movies: Caribbean Reef Squid 001, Caribbean Reef Squid 002, and Common Octopus 001

• Octopuppy. It’s art!

• More cephalopoetry, from the Cuttlefish Poet:

  A Cuttlefish Limerick or Three

  The cuttlefish: Squid-like, you think?
  Just a cephalopod in the drink?
  Then you also should know it
  Refers to a poet,
  Or any who hide in their ink.

  For writers who think that they’re odd
  And ignored, by indifferent God,
  Don’t allow yourself–perish
  The thought, and just cherish
  Your label of “Cephalopod”

  For today, there will be no rebuttal–
  We will celebrate, loud and unsubtle!
  Just the same as each squid
  And each octopus did,
  We’ll shake all of our legs, and our cuttle!

  A Cuttlefish Double-Dactyl

  Inkily, thinkily,
  Deepwater cuttlefish
  Hide in their ink (to a
  Poet, that’s odd)

  Writing, you see, is not
  Characteristically
  Part of the life of a
  Cephalopod.

  the classic Ogden Nash–

  THE OCTOPUS

  Tell me, O Octopus, I begs
  Is those things arms, or is they legs?
  I marvel at thee, Octopus;
  If I were thou, I’d call me Us.)

Here’s the first volley of cephalopod recognition posts I’ve received. Do send me more, and I’ll put them up later. Do me a favor and put “Cephalopod Awareness” in your subject line so I can sort them out more easily.

• The blog that kicked this all off, Cephalopodcast, has a vintage octopus wrestling video. I remember my dating days, too. It’s even from the Pacific Northwest, and that guy has a classic Seattle Scandihoovian accent.

• From Greta Christina, Peter the Pirate Squid!

• Somebody has found their way to the inner sanctum of the cephalopod lords, and returned with pictures. Yes, it’s true: cephalopod worship, for some reason, involves scantily clad women.

• Wait a minute…eating cephalopods? No scantily clad ladies for you, Rick.

• The Other 95% has a collection of squid links and a video of schooling squid.

• Peter Metrinko sends a poem:

  Today we sing a love ballade
  To the majestic cephalopod
  True, they may look quite odd
  But judge them not by their façade
  The eyes that grace their lovely bod
  Have photoreceptors like a rod
  More worth our passion than some jihad
  Waged for some fictitious god
  Today we cast a loving nod
  Towards the lovely cephalopod

• CrashOctopus tells us about cockeyed squid.

• See them in their natural environment! Here are some diving photos.

• Check out the trailer for “The Future is Wild”: land squid! I think the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus site already did this.

Remember, it’s International Cephalopod Awareness Day! Send me links to your articles that express your appreciation of our 10- and 8-armed friends, and I’ll periodically put them up right here on Pharyngula.