Cephalopod Awareness Week!

[Anton]

We can celebrate her on the 11th, because..

It's Squid and Cuttlefish Day! October 10th, for our ten-tentacled friends. Tentacled! BAHAHAHA!!

Squids, like many octopuses and cuttlefish, are capable of changing their color and skin patterning through controlling specialized cells called chromatophores. They use this for camouflage, to scare off predators, and communicate with other squids via flashes of color. My favorite squid is the Caribbean Reef Squid, just look how gorgeous it is!

It's also been discovered that they are capable of flying out of the water, along with a few other closely related species. You can read a story about it right here and watch a video here! (sadly no footage yet of it in action)

What's your favorite squid?

 

[Uniju]

Of course, this is my favourite squid.

She may not have conquered the land, but she conquered my heart~

 

[Anton]

In case any of you need help:

Similar to the Caribbean Reef Squid, there's the Bigfin Reef Squid, which has...bigger fins! They also live in the Pacific Ocean around Japan to Australia. Because they have a rapid growth rate, they are fished in large quantities for food and research.

Roundear Enope Squids, or Fire Squids! They are covered in photophores, cells that emit light, which makes them look rather snazzy in the dark.

Glacial Squid, one of few that live in the Antarctic waters.

Diamond Squids, named after their enormous rhombus-shaped fins.

Common Squid is uhhh, well, it's really common. It's also Gamefreak75's favorite!!

Here's a picture of it using it's special skill of being common

Firefly Squid, which does neat things like this!

Glass Squid, which gets its name from being transparent, as well as having photophores. They come in all sorts of wacky designs, which you can check out under the genera category here

If none of these toot your fancy, I've got some more comin' up soon!

 

[Ray Trace]

Funny how Squidward is called Squidward when he's actually an octopus

 

[GalacticPetey]

Here, have a squid Kaiju

 

[Anton]

Giant Squid, perhaps the most (in)famous! "Recent estimates put the maximum size at 13 m (43 ft) for females and 10 m (33 ft) for male", and are thought to be the inspiration for tales of the Kraken.

Humboldt Squid, or Jumbo Squid, another large squid! They are known to attack unknown objects with quite a bit of aggression, including humans swimming nearby.

Colossal Squid, which is the largest squid by mass, as well as largest cephalopod, and even one of the largest animals alive today.

Black-eyed Squid, or Clawed Armhook Squid. The only interesting thing I've got about it is that it's really cute!

Umbrella Squid, which is one of the cock-eyed squid, named after having a normal round right eye, but with a larger tubular left eye that points upwards.

And Joubin's Squid which also looks neat.

Grimaldi Scaled Squid, which, as the name implies, has overlapping scales.

Dana Octopus Squid, another fairly large species, uses flashing lights to disorientate and illuminate prey.

Bigfin Squid, or Long-Arm Squid, which has....big fins and long arms!

Bobtail Squid, which is one of the cutest things ever, has a symbiotic relationship with a bioluminescent bacteria that work to match the amount of light received on top to shine on the bottom to erase any existence of a silhouette.

Vampire Squid, named after its many sharp suckers and dark red 'cloak', does not suck on the blood of young virgin fish, but rather likely feeds on organic waste.

 

[Anton]

As many of you know, my favorite animals are cephalopods (amongst other things, and my favorite cephalopods are cuttlefish, and my favorite cuttlefish is the Flamboyant Cuttlefish.

My favorite ability that cuttlefish have is part of their skin-changing ability. Aside from camouflage, cuttlefish rapidly change bands of color to hypnotize prey. ISN'T THAT COOL??

What's your favorite cuttlefish?

 

[Unknown Entity]

 

[Brock]

Rawr! I couldnt find the image i wanted to post, so heres one of a squid trying to eat you instead.

 

[GalacticPetey]

Learned about these guys on Chased by Sea Monsters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthocone

 

[Anton]

For those who need help:

Striped Pyjama Squid, is not actually a squid, but a cuttlefish! Along with the Flamboyant Cuttlefish and the Blue-Ringed Octopus, it is one of 3 (suspected) toxic cephalopods.

Tropical Bottletail Squid, also not a squid! This guys' not toxic so you could totally eat him if you want, but do you realllllly want to make this guy frown? ?

Australian Giant Cuttlefish is the largest cuttlefish alive today, "growing to 50 cm in mantle length and over 10.5 kg (23 lb) in weight."

Stumpy-Spined Cuttlefish, or Dwarf Cuttlefish, doesn't swim too often, but rather 'walks' around with its fins or two tentacles.

Broadclub Cuttlefish are the 2nd largest cuttlefish and are the cuttlefish that most often use the fancy chromatophore hypno magic trance stuff in the video I posted above, which gets prey to stop freaking out long enough for them to be eaten.

Pharaoh Cuttlefish is really cute and apparently really delicious.

Common Cuttlefish, is the most studied because it's common!

also just for reference, this is the actual size of many cuttlefish

 

[Uniju]

Flamboyant Cuttlefish are my favourite too. I still remember the first time I saw the true beauty of Cephalopods. I was watching a documentary film on Cuttlefish and I was thinking they looked pretty freaky, then at the end they had a bit on Flamboyant Cuttlefish and I thought they were really cute and that was the moment I realized the truth.

 

[Anton]

Cephalopods are so cool that they're all over films, books, cartoons, myths and legends, games, and other things I can't be bothered to list. Here's just a few!

First off, my favorite, Hermaeus Mora, the Daedric Prince of Knowledge, Memory, and Fate from The Elder Scrolls.

Isn't he precious <33

Also, there's:

Oodako, a Kaiju from King Kong vs. Godzilla

Bloopers

Squid Girl, a hero who plans to wreak havoc on humanity for polluting the oceans.

Squiddly Diddly, an original Hanna-Barbera character.

Squidward Tentacles, who is actually an octopus!

Illithids, or Mindflayers! They flay minds in Dungeons & Dragons

Topo, Aquaman's sidekick.

The Ood, a race of telepathic aliens in Doctor Who.

Zoidberg, the doctor and overall horrible character (opinions are facts) from Futurama.

The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, an endangered octopus that needs your help!

Cthulhu, a Lovecraftian cosmic entity and overall lovable oaf.

And many more!! Which one is your favorite?

 

[Brock]

SUPER GIANTS

RELEASE

THE

KRAKEN!!!

RAWR!!

 

[Master Crash]

Spoiler

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

 

[Mario4Ever]

Which one is your favorite?

Cthulhu

 

[GalacticPetey]

Oodako is best cephalopod.

Minor nitpick, but that pic of Oodako is actually from another movie he was in, War of the Gargantaus.

Oodako has an interesting history. He first appeared as a minor kaiju in King Kong vs. Godzilla who fought Kong but retreated. They used an actual octopus when when filming! Oodako was going to appear at the end of Frankenstein Conquers the World after the kaiju sized Frankenstein monster killed Baragon. Oodako was going to kill Frankenstein in the original script, but the scene was cut. You can find the deleted scene on the DVD. Oodako appeared in War of the Gargantuas and fought Gaira. Oodako ends up losing to Gaira.

 

[Amphituber]

Oodako is best cephalopod.

Minor nitpick, but that pic of Oodako is actually from another movie he was in, War of the Gargantaus.

Oodako has an interesting history. He first appeared as a minor kaiju in King Kong vs. Godzilla who fought Kong but retreated. They used an actual octopus when when filming! Oodako was going to appear at the end of Frankenstein Conquers the World after the kaiju sized Frankenstein monster killed Baragon. Oodako was going to kill Frankenstein in the original script, but the scene was cut. You can find the deleted scene on the DVD. Oodako appeared in War of the Gargantuas and fought Gaira. Oodako ends up losing to Gaira.

That is interesting. And who's Gaira?

 

[GalacticPetey]

A kaiju from War of the Gargantuas, a cult classic Toho kaiju frilm from the 60s. Brad Pitt said it was big part of his childhood and helped him get into acting.

 

[Amphituber]

That's... kind of scary. The neat stuff one learns on the internet.

 

[GalacticPetey]

It's a pretty damn good kaiju film.

 

[Anton]

Today is Fossil Day, to remember all of the critters that came before us today!

I can't be bothered to make a list today because I'm busy but here you go look at these

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Fossil_cephalopods

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_history_of_cephalopods

 

[FantasticGoomba]

Cephalopods are awesome. Here's a cool video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDwOi7HpHtQ

 

[FantasticGoomba]

Oh, I uh... seem to be quite late on this topic. Can there be another awareness month for a different group of animals?