#cephalopods

[knightofleo]

"A snack? For me?"

[lionofchaeronea]

If anyone's feeling sad today, here's a newly discovered species of octopus. Found in the waters off the Galapagos Islands, this little critter can fit in the palm of your hand.

[snototter]

A robust clubhook squid (Onykia robusta) washed up at Dutch Harbour, Alaska, USA.

This approximately 10ft long specimen was photographed and then safely relocated back to the ocean, still alive.

by Andrew Bleiman

[feather-bone]

[ID: a digital drawing of a striped dark brown and white octopus and a striped black and white sea snake, greeting each other curiously at the foreground of a busy cluster of colorful coral. The background is full of other sea creatures, like urchins, snails, crabs, and fishes. End.]

A mimic octopus and a sea krait :)

[marinebioblr]

Squids are unique among cephalopods in their tendency to aggregate in shoals for purposes other than mating! Humboldt squid are the most infamous for their pack-like hunting coordination, but these Caribbean reef squid shoal likely for defensive reasons! In complex groupings of mixed age groups and sex, it's very interesting to watch as they communicate with their skin patterns and postures - often unique across different parts of their bodies facing different neighboring individuals!

[hellsitegenetics]

Hello hellsitegenetics. I have discovered that I did absolute shit on my Genetics unit so far. If you were to BLAST this ask I will start praying to the creature that appears for them to aid me in the final exam so that I can have a GPA that is closer to what I wanted

String identified: tgtc. a c tat at t Gtc t a. t AT t a tat ag t t cat tat aa t t a t a a tat ca a a GA tat c t at at

Closest match: Eumandya parva genome assembly, chromosome: 44 Common name: Spotty Bobtail Squid

(image source)

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

This Mother's Day, let's take a moment to recognize the super-moms, like graneledone octopus! This tiny octopus has been recorded incubating her eggs for 53 months non-stop-- that's over 4 years constantly tending to and protecting her clutch, without leaving the nest to feed! In fact, it's the longest egg-brooding period in the animal kingdom. Unfortunately, the toll of such a task does eventually kill the mother, but not before she gets to see all 160 of her offspring hatch.

(Image: A graneledone octopus (Graneledone boreopacifica) by UW/NSF-OOI/CSS)