Ecology & Zoology

Squid Drama In Washington State Continues Apace

I'm starting to suspect that my study organism, Dosidicus gigas, is a bit of a diva. It seems like every other day there's a news story on Humboldt squid, jumbo squid, or (my favorite!) giant squid. (D. gigas is still not a giant squid.) I haven& ...

Article - Danna Staaf - Sep 21 2009 - 11:07am

World's Cutest Squid?

A Google Image search for "cute squid" returns, amidst the cartoons and handmade objects, numerous photographs of real animals:- 1 baby octopus (cute, but not a squid)- 1 dumbo octopus (cute, and it does have fins, which one usually associates wi ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Sep 21 2009 - 11:12pm

I Guess I Should Mention the Giant Squid

Yup, they found a giant squid. And this is exactly why I get snarlish about people referring to Humboldt squid as giant squid. If you cry "giant!" every time Humboldts appear, then when you get a real Architeuthis, people will think, "What&# ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Sep 22 2009 - 11:32pm

P.S. Maybe the Giant Squid Was Dead Already

Not to beat a dead squid, but a reasonable question came up in a conversation with one of my labmates today: Who's to say that the Architeuthis collected in the Gulf of Mexico this summer was alive and kicking to begin with? Scientists assume the rapi ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Sep 24 2009 - 12:57am

Northern Atlantic Suffering Lack of Squid?

On Tuesday, BBC News' Day In Pictures included a photo of a northern bottlenose whale, washed up dead on a beach in Southern England. (The bottlenose whale is a member of the beaked whale family, Ziphidae, whereas the bottlenose dolphin belongs to the ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Sep 24 2009 - 11:59pm

By Request: Squid Parasites!

Jeff writes: "[Do] squid or cephalopods have any weird parasites similar to the isopops that replace the tongues on a number of fish...?" (Heh. I am still chuckling over "isopops." Although probably coined accidentally, it is a perfect ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Sep 26 2009 - 11:37pm

We Could Learn A Thing Or Two About Cooperation From Hyenas

Spotted hyenas aren't smarter than chimpanzees but they cooperate better and it shows on cooperative problem-solving tests, says a new article about a very old study that just recently got some notice. Captive pairs of spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 28 2009 - 10:51am

A Very Long String And A Bag of Mashed Shrimp... And A Squid

Thank you, Slate, for taking this opportunity to remind us of the dangers of angering the giant squid: The giant squid hates everything: It hates Kirk Douglas, it hates the crew of the Pequod, and it especially hates scientists who make it look stupid. The ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Sep 28 2009 - 6:53pm

Squid Parasites, Part II

I was delighted to receive a message yesterday from a teacher on the Oregon coast who had seized the opportunity to dissect a Humboldt squid with her students. First--how cool is that? Good teaching! Second, they found worms in the squid's stomach, an ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Sep 30 2009 - 2:59pm

Hey Canada, Watch Out For Enormous Stabbing Squid

... Wait! Stop the presses! They're not enormous, they're just somewhat large. They don't stab their prey, they just chew and swallow. Maybe that sounds nitpicky--big is big and sharp is sharp, right? But it actually makes quite a difference ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Oct 2 2009 - 9:00pm