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Vampire Squid And The Evolution Of Cephalopod Sex

Everyone loves vampire squid, right? Their monstrous name belies their gentle nature as graceful...

Learning Science From Fiction: A Review Of Ryan Lockwood’s “Below”

In last month’s review of Preparing the Ghost, I mentioned that you can actually learn facts...

Usurped By Legend: A Review Of Matthew Gavin Frank’s ‘Preparing The Ghost’

When you read something in a book, do you believe it? You might say, “Of course not if it’s...

Squid Lady Parts

This Bobtail squid was imaged by the Deep Discover ROV in Atlantis Canyon, is less than one foot...

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Danna StaafRSS Feed of this column.

Cephalopods have been rocking my world since I was in grade school. I pursued them through a BA in marine biology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, followed by a PhD dissertation at... Read More »

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Thoughts From The Spawn Of The Krakenists

Thoughts From The Spawn Of The Krakenists

Oct 13 2011 | comment(s)

Today's post in honor of the 2011 Cephalopod Awareness Days. October 12th is Fossil Day.

I must confess, I'm glad today is the last of the Cephalopod Days. This heady pace is almost more than I can handle! The final day of ICAD is for celebrating fossil cephalopods, timed to coincide with National Fossil Day, which is totally a real thing. (Not that the other Cephalopod Days aren't a real thing, they're just differently real.)
You're Kraken Me Up

You're Kraken Me Up

Oct 11 2011 | comment(s)

Today's post in honor of the 2011 Cephalopod Awareness Days. October 11th is Myths and Legends Day.

And what better way to celebrate than with an account of the newly discovered Triassic Kraken, you know, the one who made a self-portrait with the vertebral discs of dinosaurs a couple of millions years ago?
Happy Squid Day! Have Some Novel.

Happy Squid Day! Have Some Novel.

Oct 11 2011 | comment(s)

Today's post in honor of the 2011 Cephalopod Awareness Days. October 10th is Squid Day.

It's the happiest day of the year here at Squid A Day! To celebrate (or perhaps it was just a coincidence) I attended Litquake's New Writers Workshop to get some tips on publishing my squid racing novel. The writers, agents, and publishers on the panels were very generous with their time and their advice; I came away with pages of useful notes.
A Nautilus Bedtime Story

A Nautilus Bedtime Story

Oct 10 2011 | comment(s)

Today's post in honor of the 2011 Cephalopod Awareness Days. October 9th is Nautilus Night.

500 million years ago, at the time of the Cambrian Explosion, there was no life on land. The ocean held plenty of trilobites and other animals, but  they all lived on the seafloor--almost nobody swam freely in the water. Plectronocerus, the first fossil cephalopod, evolved and crawled on the floor just like everyone else.
The Weirdest Octopus

The Weirdest Octopus

Oct 08 2011 | comment(s)

Today's post in honor of the 2011 Cephalopod Awareness Days. October 8th is Octopus Day.

There are some weird octopuses out there, I'll grant you. The tiny-but-deadly blue-ringed octopus. The Dumbo octopus with its "ear flaps"--actually fins. But I propose that Haliphron atlanticus, the seven-arm octopus, outdoes them all.

Color version (from TONMO) of Figure 1 from O'Shea 2004.
Celebrate Cephalopods in Classrooms

Celebrate Cephalopods in Classrooms

Oct 07 2011 | comment(s)

Two items of tremendous note today, to wit:

The 2011 International Cephalopod Awareness Days begin tomorrow! It's no accident that this date also marks TONMOCON, the fourth biannual gathering of cephalopod enthusiasts. Unfortunately for me, TONMOCON IV is in Washington, D.C., and I can't make it across the country. But I will be there in squishy salty spirit!