Cephalopod News

[yanpa]

Female octopuses stretch further

Female octopuses go to extra lengths when stretching their arms to reach food, a study has found.

Scientists in Italy measured octopuses' arm extensions as they reached up a tube towards tasty bait.

They found for the first time that octopuses' arm elongation ability differed depending on their sex and size.

...more...

Not sure if this is good or bad news

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Not sure if this is good or bad news

If itsa problem with Italiano octopussy, you should calli Maria...

[GomiGirl]

How do you tell the female octopuses/octopi from the males?

By the length of their tentacles of course....

Do the males suffer from tentacle envy do you think? Or do they have feelings of inadequacies? Or do they just go hungry because the bitches with longer arms steal all the food?

[legion]

While the octopuses preferred to use their longest arm to reach for the food, the sex divide in stretching ability was greatest when males used an adapted arm called the "hectoctylus".

Males use this specialised limb during mating to insert sperm into the female.

bet you really needed to know that

[yanpa]

Tiny octopus-like microorganisms named after science fiction monsters

UBC researchers have discovered two new symbionts living in the gut of termites, and taken the unusual step of naming them after fictional monsters created by American horror author HP Lovecraft.

The single-cell protists, Cthulhu macrofasciculumque and Cthylla microfasciculumque, help termites digest wood. The researchers decided to name them after monstrous cosmic entities featured in Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos as an ode to the sometimes strange and fascinating world of the microbe.

“When we first saw them under the microscope they had this unique motion, it looked almost like an octopus swimming,” says UBC researcher Erick James, lead author of the paper describing the new protists, published in the online journal PLoS ONE.

The octopus-like movements and appearance of both protists reminded James of the horrid Cthulhu and Cthylla, and the little protists were baptized after the two monsters. Cthulhu is often depicted as a giant, octopus-like entity with wings. Cthylla is his daughter, and has a similar appearance.

Most of the larger protists living in termites have already been identified, but Cthulhu and Cthylla are very small – they are in the range of 10 to 20 microns, while the bigger protists are around 50 to 150 microns – and had passed unnoticed until now. But although tiny, the protists and their brethren have a big impact, much like their fictional namesakes.
...more...

[Russell]

Why am I reading this thread?

[GomiGirl]

While the octopuses preferred to use their longest arm to reach for the food, the sex divide in stretching ability was greatest when males used an adapted arm called the "hectoctylus".

Males use this specialised limb during mating to insert sperm into the female.

bet you really needed to know that

So the female gets fisted basically....

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

So the female gets fisted basically....

Warum ist so schlimm?

[Russell]

Let's at least make this thread newsworthy...

[yanpa]

Yeah, that damn flash went off just as I was about to leap off the wall and wrap my besuckered tentacles around the fat commie fucker's neck...

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Isn't that the cephalopodic equivalent of pulling one's finger?

[Taro Toporific]

Why am I reading this thread?

Because you're hoping for this...

tentacle-transfer.gif