New research shows that squid lived all around the globe even before the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered. Blog moderation policy.

On Wednesday I spent a day fishing, on a small boat out of Gloucester, MA. We caught many cod (none of which we could keep), and a bunch of hake and mackerel (all of which we could keep). And…I caught a squid! Near as I can tell, it’s a longfin squid, sometimes called a Boston squid (Doryteuthis (Amerigo) pealeii). That night I cooked it over a barbecue grill—hot and fast. Delicious.

A new species of squid. pretends to be a plant: > Scientists have filmed a never-before-seen species of deep-sea squid burying > itself upside down in the seafloor—a behavior never documented in cephalopods. > They captured the bizarre scene while studying the depths of the > Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), an abyssal plain in the Pacific Ocean targeted > for deep-sea mining. > > The team described the encounter in a study published Nov. 25 in the journal > Ecology, writing that the animal appears to be an undescribed species of > whiplash squid. At a depth of roughly 13,450 feet (4,100 meters), the squid > had buried almost its entire body in sediment and was hanging upside down, > with its siphon and two long ...

Spock befriends a giant space squid in the comic Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: The Seeds of Salvation #5. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered. Blog moderation policy.

The latest article on this topic. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered. Blog moderation policy.

Probably a college prank. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered. Blog moderation policy.

New research: > Abstract: Coleoid cephalopods have the most elaborate camouflage system in the > animal kingdom. This enables them to hide from or deceive both predators and > prey. Most studies have focused on benthic species of octopus and cuttlefish, > while studies on squid focused mainly on the chromatophore system for > communication. Camouflage adaptations to the substrate while moving has been > recently described in the semi-pelagic oval squid (Sepioteuthis lessoniana). > Our current study focuses on the same squid’s complex camouflage to substrate > in a stationary, motionless position. We observed disruptive, uniform, and > mottled chromatic body patterns, and we identified a threshold of contrast > between dark and light chromatic components that simplifies the identification > of disruptive chromatic body pattern. We found that arm postural components > are related to the squid position in the environment, either sitting directly > on the substrate or hovering just few centimeters above the substrate. Several > of these context-dependent body patterns have not yet been observed in ...

Video from Reddit shows what could go wrong when you try to pet a—looks like a Humboldt—squid. As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered. Blog moderation policy.

I have no context for this video—it’s from Reddit—but one of the commenters adds some context: > Hey everyone, squid biologist here! Wanted to add some stuff you might find > interesting. > > With so many people carrying around cameras, we’re getting more videos of > giant squid at the surface than in previous decades. We’re also starting to > notice a pattern, that around this time of year (peaking in January) we see a > bunch of giant squid around Japan. We don’t know why this is happening. Maybe > they gather around there to mate or something? who knows! but since so many > people have cameras, those one-off monster-story encounters are now caught on > video, like this one (which, btw, rips. This squid looks so healthy, it’s > awesome)...

The vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis) has the largest cephalopod genome ever sequenced: more than 11 billion base pairs. That’s more than twice as large as the biggest squid genomes. It’s technically not a squid: “The vampire squid is a fascinating twig tenaciously hanging onto the cephalopod family tree. It’s neither a squid nor an octopus (nor a vampire), but rather the last, lone remnant of an ancient lineage whose other members have long since vanished.” As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered...