new octopus video

I love Norcia, and am not going to move if I can help it.

Normally I only post videos of very small subjects, that's where my interests lie and what I have the equipment to do very well. But this encounter with an octopus out hunting on the reef was just too fun not to share. It really seemed unbothered by my following it. Notice how it would whip its tentacle membranes over an entire coral head to catch anything that might try to escape. This was filmed at Nathan's Dent on Guam with a GoPro that was mounted to the cold shoe on my DSLR housing. I hope you'll enjoy and share it. (Octopus cyanea, thanks Ron Silver).

Posted by Macronesia on Saturday, 13 June 2015

But man, o man, do I miss the sea...



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Support Bilateral Symmetry! Take back the seas!

And about that cephalopod threat...

What about the "triassic kraken" hmmmm?

"I saw them come for the sperm whales, but I was not a sperm whale, so I did nothing. Then I saw them come for the walruses and other land/sea mammals, but I was exclusively a land-dweller so I didn't do anything..."

Repost:

And here, we have another example of why I exclusively support Bilateral Symmetry. I mean really, flying squid? 65 feet?! Seriously?!

I've said it before. Water reduces the effect of gravity on the things that live in it. This does nothing but encourage all manner of morphological excess. It is our duty to eat everything in the ocean.



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Octopus in love

Seen three in recent weeks, and each time I see one, I think the same thing: how can something be cute n'adorable and horrifying at the same time?





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The octopus report

Saw another one. I'd gone for a late afternoon swim (late afternoon is still lovely and warm and sunny, but the UV won't try to eat me) and seen nothing much of interest. Just in it for the exercise after a couple of days at home. By the time I'd come back to the spiaggia libero, the shade of the buildings had almost covered the beach, so I decided to take a long walk to the other end, and catch the last of the evening rays.

When I got there, I'd only intended to sit and read my book and bask a little, but the water just looked irresistable, so I went for one last splash of the day. I had just walked in to barely waist deep and slid under and there it was right in front of me. This time it was a wee one, it's "head" not much bigger than my hand, and its legs all coiled up under it so it looked like a rock. One of its legs, though, was turned over and I spotted the telltale red with a row of white suckers.

They're amazingly hard to see when they don't want to be, but I hung there in the water looking down and slowly its shape resolved into its big baggy head-thing, with the siphon holes pulsing water in and out, and a pair of eyes watching me with undivided attention.

It didn't move. I decided to try to outwait it, but it still didn't move. I was starting to get cold, so after diving down a few times to get a closer look, I thought I'd see if it would react if I were closer. I carefully placed my foot a few inches from its hiding spot under a rock ledge. I didn't move, and ever so slowly, it uncurled a single tentacle and reached delicately out to take a little taste. The tiny tip of the arm touched the toe of my neoprene footie, felt around to see if it was something good to eat and then withdrew.

It was SO cute! I got out of the water with a sense of having accomplished a feat of interspecies communication.



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Put 'em up!

I LOVE this!!!

From the ex-pat-without-a-name.

AWEsome!



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They're COMING!!!

The secret to their evil is that they manage to be both cute and creepy at the same time. So I'm watching this, and I'm thinking, naturally, "GAAAAAHHHH!!!" but also, "Oh, the poor little thing...someone please help it to the next pond!" That is its power, its evil mind-control power to make you, though fully aware of its evil While. It's. Crawling. Towards. You. feel sorry for it. '

Eee-VIL!

There's another one on YT that shows a giant octopus on the floor of a fish market trying to get away that I just can't watch.



H/T to Zach

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Triassic Kraken and flying squids

Below the thunders of the upper deep;
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth...

* ~ * ~ *

I haven't posted much lately on the cephalopod threat, knowing that my readers are probably more or less saturated with scary news and probably would rather I talk about art. But I just couldn't let this one go.

Scientists are postulating the existence of an ancient super-duper-giganto-squid. Like really really freaking huge. The Triassic Kraken, the story goes, was so big it hunted these things. And was so smart it made art with the vertebrae of its prey.

Someone who has been following my efforts to raise awareness of the threat posed by the radially symmetrical sent me the link on Facebook. He said, "Don't worry, they're supposed to have died out millions of years ago..."

Yeah, that's what they said about these things too. I'd like to know how my friend thinks he knows they've all died out. What the hell is really down there? No one knows, buddy. No-one.

And here, we have another example of why I exclusively support Bilateral Symmetry. I mean really, flying squid? 65 feet?! Seriously?!

I've said it before. Water reduces the effect of gravity on the things that live in it. This does nothing but encourage all manner of morphological excess. It is our duty to eat everything in the ocean.

This site is sort of fun, and it also has a "Squidwatch" section.

Word is getting out.

"I saw them come for the sperm whales, but I was not a sperm whale, so I did nothing. Then I saw them come for the walruses and other land/sea mammals, but I was exclusively a land-dweller so I didn't do anything..."



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Decor

The other day I discovered the website called "Etsy". There's lots of stuff on it, most of which leaves me more or less going, "meh".

But this!

I have GOT to, got to get me one of these!

My life will be complete if I can only get me a Wall Tentacle.



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Thugs of the sea

What the...?

Octopus makes a feint towards the guy's face, but it's only a distraction so it can grab the camera and make a break for it.


What's next? Little old ladies' purses?

Beware the radially symmetrical

they're coming for YOU!

(If you happen to be a crab in a jar in a tank with one.)

Did I ever show you guys the video that shows a huge octopus sliding effortlessly through a hole the size of a quarter?

Go measure the drain in your bathtub.

...

Bigger than a quarter?

I'm not alone!

I'm finally not the only one who is alive to the cephalopod threat.

The Weekly World News is with us!

Thank God the word is getting out.

Well, I for one welcome our new Cephalopod European Overlords

All blocks to Lisbon now removed:

Mr. Klaus added his signature to the treaty, even as he expressed his continuing objections, just hours after the Czech Republic's high court ruled it compatible with the country's constitution. The move means the Treaty, already ratified by the other 26 members of the bloc, can go into force on Dec. 1.

In related news,

Japanese fishing trawler sunk by giant jellyfish:

A 10-ton fishing boat has been sunk by gigantic jellyfish off eastern Japan.

No, really.

Each of the jellyfish can weigh up to 200 kg and waters around Japan have been inundated with the creatures this year. Experts believe weather and water conditions in the breeding grounds, off the coast of China, have been ideal for the jellyfish in recent months.

They've hit Japan!

It's the second wave.

Hundreds of giant jellyfish have advanced from China and have descended into Japanese and, possibly, American waters.

This is the third time since 2005 that these overgrown creatures have entered the Sea of Japan, and scientists have yet to uncover the motive for their repeated attempts at invading the relatively docile waters.

Down with Radial Symmetry!

Support Triploblastic rights!

More fallout from Vatican II?

Well, thank goodness I'm not the only one any more.

Thomas Peters, the American Papist points to the erosion of devotional practice in the Church over the last forty years for the boldness of the California cephalopod invasion we have noted here in the last week.

He says simply,

"For generations, fish knew their rightful place in God's creation because faithful Catholics observed the tradition of eating them en masse every Friday.

Sure, the idea was to offer up the pleasures of eating meat as a penance one day out of the week, but frankly, those faithful Catholics still ate mammals six days out of the week.

So really, there could be no doubt in those tasty farmyard minds about who was the boss. I mean, have you ever witnessed a cow or pig try to attack someone? Of course not! Except maybe that one time (on a Friday - surprise, surprise).

Anyway, fast-forward to 40 or so years after Vatican II, and it's clear that fish have forgotten our deal. The new generation of fishes, in fact, are now systematically, actively "testing the waters" to see if the time is ripe to have their turn at the top of the food chain.

Luckily, so far their attempts have been unsuccessful."

No One Ever Listens

Battle is joined.

Jumbo flying squid - aggressive 5-foot(1.5-meter)-long sea monsters with razor-sharp beaks and toothy tentacles - have invaded the shallow waters off San Diego, spooking scuba divers and washing up dead on tourist-packed beaches.

The carnivorous calamari, which can grow up to 100 pounds (45 kilograms), came up from the depths last week and swarms of them roughed up unsuspecting divers. Some divers report tentacles enveloping their masks and yanking at their cameras and gear.

Stories of too-close encounters with the alien-like cephalopods have chased many veteran divers out of the water and created a whirlwind of excitement among the rest, who are torn between their personal safety and the once-in-a-lifetime chance to swim with the deep-sea giants.

H/T to Dale.

Oh yeah, an earthquake...

"They're really confused about where they are"

Uh huh. Sure, "confused".

"We're just basically trying to save them."

Only one guy asks, "Why are they here? Why are the squid here. I can't honestly tell ya."

I CAN!

The giant squid do venture into shallower depths at night, according to LiveScience:

During the day, the somewhat mysterious jumbo squid are known to descend to lower depths in the ocean to rest, slowing down their metabolism to deal with the lower oxygen levels there. At night, they return to well-oxygenated waters nearer the surface to feed.

Beachgoers tried to throw back the squid, which measured up to four feet long, before seagulls could feast on them. But for many of the marine creatures, the attempt was futile.

For pity sake people!

WAKE UP!

The Media is obviously trying to downplay the threat. More pro-radial-symmetry propaganda here.

They're coming!

Massive squid washes up on the beach at La Jolla.

My correspondent asks the questions we should all be asking.

"Reconnaissance? First wave of the invasion? Diversionary tactic?"

They came for the aquatic mammals, but I was not an aquatic mammal, so I did nothing...

H/T to Steve, the quitter.

Now, I realise that this thing, technically is bilaterally symmetrical. And I see that, technically it has four, not eight legs, that are not actually growing directly out of its head...

but it's icky and slimy and one wonders just what the heck it is for in the greater scheme of things.


The first thing I thought of was, "What has that BAD MAN done to that bunny?!"

Defend Triploblastic Rights!

From Wiki:

A germ layer is a collection of cells, formed during animal embryogenesis. Germ layers are only really pronounced in the vertebrates. However, all animals more complex than sponges (eumetazoans and agnotozoans) produce two or three primary tissue layers (sometimes called primary germ layers).

Animals with radial symmetry, like cnidarians, produce two called ectoderm and endoderm, making them diploblastic. Animals with bilateral symmetry produce a third layer in-between called mesoderm, making them triploblastic.

DOWN WITH DIPLOBLASTIC LIFE FORMS!

The forces of bilateral symmetry are holding their own for now, but FOR HOW MUCH LONGER?!

How much longer before we start having radial-symmetry diversity training curricula in schools? How much longer before we start seeing hug-a-squiddy campaigns from left-leaning politicians?

How much longer before we have radially symmetrical MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT!

Open your eyes people!

They let children play on this thing!!

From the most evil website on the net


In case there are more than five people visiting this blog who may not have been following over the last five years or so, I offer an old post from The Devout Life to explain my growing concern over the cephalopod threat.

The trouble with the ocean is that things that live in it don't have to worry about gravity all that much. It just encourages the worst sort of morphological excesses.

I'm calling for a moratorium on all non-bilaterally symmetrical lifeform development and a thorough review of all planned research.

Join me in the anti-tentacle movement, before it is too late.

"I saw them come for the sperm whales, but I was not a sperm whale, so I did nothing. Then I saw them come for the walruses and other land/sea mammals, but I was exclusively a land-dweller so I didn't do anything..."