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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 »

More Ridiculous Squid Reporting

Nov 13 2009 | comment(s)

The Monterey Herald hit close to home today with Turning the tables on giant, predatory squid:

These fascinatingly grotesque creatures can reach 7 feet in length and weigh in excess of 100 pounds, are known cannibals and can tear off a fisherman's hand with its razor-sharp beak, dousing its prey with prodigious amounts of black ink.

I Humbly Propose A Biologically Accurate Episode Of Spongebob Squarepants

Nov 12 2009 | comment(s)

Today's scapegoat for my rant about the place of cephalopods in society is, as I predicted, Squidward Quincy Tentacles, of Spongebob Squarepants fame:

What IS that? Six appendages, a misplaced mouth, and a floppy nose? Where'd the nose come from? Where are his fins and tentacles? But oh, it turns out Squidward isn't even meant to be a squid. The Spongebob wiki quotes Squidward's voice actor: He's an octopus, but they call him Squidward. I never understood. I guess Octoward just never worked for a name, though.

Cartoonifying Cephalopods

Nov 11 2009 | comment(s)

It's hard to make a good cartoon cephalopod, I guess. Yesterday I was disappointed about the Squidbillies. Tomorrow I may despair of Spongebob's pal Squidward. Today, I sigh over Nemo's little octopus friend Pearl.

I was profoundly impressed with the combination of scientific accuracy and aesthetic appeal achieved by the writer and animators of Finding Nemo. I mean, that song Mr. Ray sings about naming the zones of the ocean? Total brilliance!

"Octopusbillies" Just Doesn't Have the Same Ring, I Guess

Nov 10 2009 | comment(s)

Fascinating things can be learned from Google Search's drop-down menu. For example, if you type "squid", the suggested search items, in order, are:

squidbillies
squidoo
squidbillies full episodes
squid proxy
squidbillies quotes

Since three of the top five sound like some kind of tv show (and, as I commented yesterday, my knowledge of pop culture is limited) I figured it was time for some quality wikipedia time. Maybe I was about to discover a fun new marine biology show!

Annnnnd . . . nope. Adult Swim is hardly my cup of tea anyway, but can't they at least get the basic squid/octopus distinction right? These:

Squid Fronts And Backs, Ups And Downs

Nov 08 2009 | comment(s)

One of my favorite zoologist habits is to gesture on one's own body when describing an animal's anatomy. The weirder the animal, the funnier the implicit analogy.

"These worms have a ventral nerve cord," I explain, drawing a line from my collarbone to my navel. "This mollusc has gills on its dorsal surface," reaching over one shoulder to pat my back.

Easy to do in front of a class, harder on the printed page. There we rely on diagrams to indicate dorsal (top), ventral (bottom), anterior (front), and posterior (back). For example, here's a squid:

Deep-Sea Squid Ink Themselves For Unknown Reasons

Nov 08 2009 | comment(s)

My friend and colleague Stephalopod published this cool paper a couple of years ago about how deep-sea squids use their ink. The fun fact from this paper that I trot out most often in social situations is a weird behavior called "mantle fills."

Six ink release types were observed: pseudomorphs, pseudomorph series,
ink ropes, clouds/smokescreens, diffuse puffs and mantle fills.