#todarodes

[herpsandbirds]

Japanese or Pacific Flying Squid (Todarodes pacificus), family Ommastrephidae, order Oegopsida, found in the North Pacific

This species can shoot out of the water and glide at distances of up to 30 m over the ocean's surface, using their fins and membranes between the arms and tentacles.

photos: Geoff Jones & Kouta Muramatsu, Hokkaido Univ.

[fabfuta1234]

DinApril Day 23: A dinosaur that looks like an animal that is not a dinosaur (that your father saw).

Welcome to DinApril 2026, where instead of recycling my list from last year, I made my father come up with the dinosaurs! Our twenty-third day features a dinosaur that looks like an animal that is not a dinosaur: Phoebastria albatrus! A female short-tailed albatross has caught a Japanese flying squid and is bringing it home to her baby, only to be caught by surprise by the sight of a male Pteranodon longiceps carrying an Enchoteuthis that probably weighs a lot more than he does (and that isn't even the type species). How the pterosaur managed to pick up the stem-octopod, much less fly off with it, will be a riddle for the ages.

My father is one of those people who keeps thinking that Pteranodon is a dinosaur, so comparing it to a bird with a similar ecology made sense for me.

Coloration inspired by the actual animal.