Cuddly creatures with more than two arms
Cuddly creatures with more than two arms
The vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis) is a small, deep-sea cephalopod found throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world. It's easy to imagine the vampire squid as a nightmarish predator. It lurks in the eternal midnight of the deep sea, has a dark red body, huge blue eyes, and a cloak-like web that stretches between its eight arms.
Scientists from the Field Museum in Chicago, USA recently discovered that Pacific warty octopuses don’t all have the same appearance, nor do they all live at the same ocean depth.
Their findings, which was published in the Bulletin of Marine Science, indicated that the bumpier the octopus’ skin was, the deeper in the ocean they would be found.
Most years, Southern California on the US west coast is the site of a special marine life aggregation, treating locals to one of the most unique dives in the world. Hundreds of thousands of market squid (Doryteuthis opalescens) swim into recreational dive depths to mate and lay an expansive canvas of egg baskets (collections of eggs) across the sandy substrate.
The giant Australian cuttlefish (Sepia apama) is the largest cuttlefish in the world, reaching up to half a metre in total length and weighing in at around 11kg. Solitary animals, they are found all along the coastline of the southern half of Australia—from Central Queensland on the eastern coast, right around the bottom of the continent and up to Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia.
Researchers from Jerusalem’s Hebrew University have filmed crawling octopuses to learn how the animals utilized their flexible arms when they move. Until now, scientists have struggled to understand how their elaborate crawling movements are coordinated. The answer proved remarkably simple: they just choose which arm to use to push themselves along without a trace of rhythm.
The rather dark reputation of Humboldt squid has been readily reinforced by various wildlife television programs and other media which present these creatures as giant animals hungry for blood or ruthless monsters, uncompromisingly attacking their prey.
My first experience diving with mating squid was in September of 2000 during a rare late summer event off La Jolla Shores of San Diego in the U.S. state of California. To date, it still ranks as one of my all time favorite dives.
One of Australia’s most unique underwater events is facing a new challenge. The Australian giant cuttlefish mating aggregation—the world’s only large-scale cuttlefish gathering—has seen the first major decline in numbers since the event was protected from commercial fishing nearly 14 years ago.
Cuttlefish and their colorblind cousins, squid and octopus, see aspects of light, including polarized light, that are invisible to humans
Cephalopods are sensitive to the linear polarization characteristics of light. To examine if this polarization sensitivity plays a role in the predatory behaviour of cuttlefish, scientists from the University of Bristol examined the preference of cuttlefish Sepia officinalis when presented with fish whose polarization reflection was greatly reduced versus fish whose polarization reflection was not affected.
Sulawesi is one of those places on nearly every diver’s bucket list. If not, it ought to be. A dozen years ago, people would have thought you daft to go diving there, much less build a dive resort in an area dominated by dark volcanic sand. Yet in Sulawesi there are nearly two dozen resorts vying for divers’ dollars, yen and euros.
Squids, octopus and cuttlefish (who all belong to the phylum of molluscs) are among the most intelligent animals in the sea, and definitely the most intelligent marine invertebrates. We should in fact ask ourselves if the human mind is capable of thinking as fast as these creatures do.
