Freakish Cephalopod News!

[eredien]

Deep-sea squid, with elbows! This is one of only 12 in this family that has ever been caught on tape. Warning: I found this movie disturbing--the creature just looks wrong to me--and I LIKE squid. It was so neat, though!

Also, apparently Cuttlefish use their tentacles to have a rudimentary 'language'! Apparently you can go to the aquarium and "talk" to the cuttlefish.

Comments

[sovay]

AWESOME.

[eredien]

Isn't it?!?!

[zdenka]

Very cool!

[eredien]

I was amazed.

Other Nations

[frameacloud]

"The animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth."
-Henry Beston
(One of my all-time favorite quotes. It's my philosophy on other species.)

I saw a documentary about cuttlefish communication, but the only serious human-mollusk communication attempt they showed was a diver who was flashing a red light to make a large wild mollusk angry. It wasn't so much communication as harassment.

I hadn't heard of people having friendly conversations with cuttlefish just by using their hands... that's so awesome. I want to go out and try that soon. It would be such an experience!

I have a new favorite animal now. o.o

Re: Other Nations

[eredien]

I LOVE that book. I wrote a story based on that quote when I was in 9th grade. *embarassed*

I already really liked cuttlefish. But now I like them more. R. and I were talking about how a team of biologists, engineers, and artists should get together to make a glove with LEDs in it that can change color.
I always thought they were looking at me at the aquarium; now I know they were. Weird.

I think I might go to the Aquarium around Christmastime.

[copperwolf.livejournal.com]

The articles on cuttlefish and octopus are very interesting.

I used to volunteer as a docent at the Houston Museum of Natural Science butterfly center. The museum had a tank of three or four cuttlefish, and I always enjoyed visiting them.

[fiddledragon.livejournal.com]

YES! And I know what you mean about it looking wrong...I'd be really interested to see a study of what constitutes "wrongness" in cases like this.