Seen while browsing through New Scientist’s Evolution: 24 Myths and Misconceptions; a link to video of a salamander that coils up and rolls downhill a la the mythical hoop snake or M. C. Escher’s Curl-Up.
From boingboing.net (where else?): ‘Giant, hippie-hating, cannibalistic squids attack SF Bay Area’
Granted, it is dated April 1st, and writer Xeni Jardin immediately admits that “Oh, alright, I made up the hippie-hating part”, but the rest is apparently true and rather scary.
More pictures of weird deep-sea squid, courtesy of National Geographic, via Art Black.
I, too, have been snapshot by Kathryn Linge.
A moving, learning sculpture called the Octofungi:
Hat tip to Cat Sparks via Jeff Vandermeer.
(I know it’s Saturday here, but one of the great advantages of living on the Western rim of the Pacific Ocean is having an extra 20 hours to make deadlines.)
image modified from Tsuji FI. PNAS , 1985; 82: 4629-32
The firefly squid or hotaru-ika, Watasenia scintillans, is a tiny squid only 6 cm long and 9 grams in weight, but it spawns in such numbers that every year around April the ocean off the Japanese town of Toyama glows blue. Unlike many glowing sea creatures, the light of the firefly squid is not caused by bioluminescent bacteria. It is a biochemical reaction within the cells of the squid itself. As well as turning the seas a shimmering blue, the hotaru-ika is apparently delicious.
Hat tip: Simon Oxwell
*Addendum: I just noticed that this is Squid post #200. Woohoo!