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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...

Danna Staaf

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 »

Limiting Squid Fishing in Chile

Aug 27 2011 | comment(s)

So, it's a bit tricky to figure out exactly what this means, but it could be big news for Humboldt squid in Chile--and therefore Humboldt squid everywhere, since the ocean doesn't exactly control immigration.

Jumbo squid fishery requested to be artisanal:

Giant Squid Duet

Aug 25 2011 | comment(s)

A couple of dead giant squid have turned up--almost exactly on opposite sides of the globe! Surely this is some kind of portent?

Architeuthis #1 was spotted off the coast of Tenerife, in the Canary Islands:

"The animal was in good general condition although some of the tentacles and the eyes were missing. It also showed its original pigmentation," said Rafa Herrero, a documentary maker, to EFE agency.

Architeuthis #2 washed ashore on Farewell Spit, on the south island of New Zealand:

Madame Argonaut

Aug 22 2011 | comment(s)

Miriam over at Deep-Sea News recently posted a lovely write-up on the argonaut, or paper nautilus. This reminded me that I, too, once felt the delight of finding a live argonaut in a manta tow cod end.

So I went digging through my grad school archives and found the video I took--on a miniDV tape, which felt so futuristic then and seems so retro now. How times change.

Anyway, amateur videographer that I am, I somehow managed to splice the least horrible footage together with a voiceover to create a brief film of the awesomeness that is the argonaut.

Fossil Whales Slurped Squid

Aug 21 2011 | comment(s)

The paper announces, in charmingly thick academese:

The titanic baleen whales (Cetacea, Mysticeti) have a bizarre skull morphology, including an elastic mandibular symphysis, which permits dynamic oral cavity expansion during bulk feeding. How this key innovation evolved from the sutured symphysis of archaeocetes has remained unclear.

What the author, Fitzgerald, means is this: baleen whales have weird heads. How did they evolve from the less-weird heads of ancestral whales?

Curious Squid Crime

Aug 17 2011 | comment(s)

Police blotters can make fun reading, especially when they show up in your news alert for "squid," and especially when they use the word "caper":

The caper began when someone used blue spray paint to draw a large squid or octopus on the northwest side of the Warner Park Community Recreation Center, 1425 Troy Drive.

Squid or octopus? Why didn't they call a marine biologist to identify it? Anyway, a few days later the police were investigating the suspect of a hit-and-run crash in his house:

World's Cutest Squid, Reprise

Aug 17 2011 | comment(s)

For serious, you guys, look at this! Just in from The Epoch Times, Science in Pics:

Bobtail squid burying itself in sand at Seraya in Bali, Indonesia. (Matthew Oldfield)

The little fins seem to be waving furiously as this chap was caught mid-burrow. SO CUTE. I think I might have to set up my home aquarium just to breed these guys.