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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 »

Brand New Unaffiliated Squid

Jan 21 2011 | comment(s)

Treehugger did an interview this week with deep-sea biologist Edith Widder. She's done some very cool research by creating devices to imitate deep-sea animals, in order to attract other deep-sea animals.

The lure is just 16 blue lights embedded around the circumference of a round epoxy mold that is shaped like the jelly. When caught in the clutches of a predator the jelly produces a light display that is a pinwheel of light that is basically a call for help. It serves to attract the attention of a larger predator that may attack their

Ammonite Poetry

Jan 18 2011 | comment(s)

Cephalopod Tea Party is having a cephalopod pin give-away. To be entered in the drawing you must write a cephalopod-themed haiku! Although I probably have more than enough cephalopod tchotchkes, I couldn't resist the writing challenge. Last year I wrote a squid fishing haiku. How to top that?

If You're In Naples In April . . .

Jan 16 2011 | comment(s)

Then you really should consider attending Euroceph, a new meeting this year with the tagline:
Cephalopod Biology Research in the 21st Century - A European Perspective.

We would like to remind all of you that the meeting is aimed to review current cephalopod research from a European perspective and specifically examine the potential of cephalopods as ‘model animals’ to address a range of research questions from molecular neuroscience to ecology.

Fishing for Future Generations

Jan 14 2011 | comment(s)

I know, I know, I won't shut up about squid fishing. But the Salinas Californian has a neat human-interest article about the closure of the market squid fishery, bringing the message home to Homo sapiens:

Third-generation Monterey fishermen Frank Mineo and his older brother, Sal, hope that they will be able to make it to the end of their working lives in the family business. Whether there will be another generation of Mineo men fishing on Monterey Bay remains to be seen.

There you have it. That's fishing. And not just squid fishing, either.

Baby Squid Vs. Baby Whale

Jan 12 2011 | comment(s)

So I guess squid are doing really well this year.

It's estimated that around-the-world squid in mass outweighs the human population. . . . Along the coast of California, the squid season has been abundant . . . Certain squid are booming thanks to a slight warming of sea temperatures, in places like Alaska and Siberia . . . There's also been a boom in Humboldt squid along the Pacific coastline ranging from California to Peru.

Some Ammonites Ate Plankton

Jan 09 2011 | comment(s)

Very cool new research on feeding in ancient ammonites! (Thanks to R. Olley for the link.)

Ammonites, though not the direct ancestors of modern-day cephalopods, are their ancient cousins--and they were the most successful cephalopods of all time, in terms of diversity and sheer abundance.

Ammonites from Ernst Haeckel's 1904 Kunstformen der Natur (Artforms of Nature).