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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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Human Rights for Squid, Please

Human Rights for Squid, Please

Feb 24 2012 | comment(s)

Bloomberg calls it "South Pacific's Cruelest Catch":
Yusril says the officers hit him in the face with fish and the boatswain repeatedly kicked him in the back for using gloves when he was sewing the trawl nets in cold weather. Most unnervingly, the second officer would crawl into the bunk of Yusril’s friend at night and attempt to rape him.
The abuse is horrible and wrong, no matter what kind of fish they're catching or where it's ending up, but the reason this particular story caught my eye is--
Flying Squid And Velocity Vs. Acceleration

Flying Squid And Velocity Vs. Acceleration

Feb 22 2012 | comment(s)

If you haven't heard the kerfuffle about flying squid by now, you've been under a rock. A cephalopod-free rock. 
New Blog (But I Still Love Squid)

New Blog (But I Still Love Squid)

Feb 15 2012 | comment(s)

I'm stoked to be joining the blogging team at KQED QUEST--a Northern California science multimedia extravaganza! My first post went up yesterday. As you can see, it required extremely rigorous and extensive consumption of chocolate.
Do Squid Go

Do Squid Go "Bloop"?

Feb 14 2012 | comment(s)

Probably not. No one's ever heard a squid make any kind of noise, really, other than "splash" at the sea surface.
But if you read io9's fantastic piece on the deep sea's mysterious sounds, you'll learn about The Bloop, an unexplained deep-sea noise from 1997. What could have made it?
But Do They Leave A Good-Looking Corpse?

But Do They Leave A Good-Looking Corpse?

Feb 13 2012 | comment(s)

Gary Griggs, director of the Institute of Marine Sciences and Long Marine Laboratory at UC Santa Cruz, wrote a nice piece for the Santa Cruz Sentinel on the history and current status of California's commercial fisheries. Squid, of course, play a starring role:
In 2010, California's biggest catch by far was market squid, coming in at over 144,000 tons, or 66 percent of the state's entire commercial catch. This is eight pounds of squid for every person in California. . . . 
Squid In The Bahamas

Squid In The Bahamas

Feb 11 2012 | comment(s)

The Freeport News--"Grand Bahama's First Newspaper"--ran an article today that was a mix of highly detailed biology and complete bone-headed confusion.

Could there be a healthy squid population living in local waters? has a fantastic opening:
Is it a possibility that there is a healthy squid population in waters around Grand Bahama?
Although, at this point, there is no official answer to the question from the proper authority, this daily will continue to search and keep our readers updated.
Mystery! Intrigue! The authorities may be ignoring the situation, but never fear, the journalists will poke and prod until it all comes out.