Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Search
Profile
PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
…and this is a pharyngula stage embryo.
• a longer profile of yours truly
• my calendar
• Nature Network
• RichardDawkins Network
• facebook
• MySpace
• Twitter
• Atheist Nexus
• the Pharyngula chat room
(#pharyngula on irc.synirc.net)
• Quick link to the latest endless thread
Random Quote
One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. it is simply too painful to acknowledge — even to ourselves — that we've been so credulous. (So the old bamboozles tend to persist as the new bamboozles rise.)
[Carl Sagan, "The Fine Art of Baloney Detection,"]
Recent Posts
- Dismal news from Ireland
- Grand news from Ireland!
- Sunday Sacrilege: Magic words
- Hardcore and Hard
- I get email
- Episode XXXIX: Play ‘Spot the Moron!’
- The wild bunch
- Wild times with the laughing godless
- This is a 100% accurate portrait of daily life at Scienceblogs
- Uh-oh…we aren't being nice and respectful of the faithful
A Taste of Pharyngula
Recent Comments
- Stephen Wells on Dismal news from Ireland
- Rorschach on Episode XXXIX: Play ‘Spot the Moron!’
- Feynmaniac on Episode XXXIX: Play ‘Spot the Moron!’
- BlueEyedVideot on Sunday Sacrilege: Magic words
- Walton on Sunday Sacrilege: Magic words
- Theatrix on Hardcore and Hard
- Lotharloo on Sunday Sacrilege: Magic words
- John Morales on Episode XXXIX: Play ‘Spot the Moron!’
- Davidpj on Sunday Sacrilege: Magic words
- Walton on Episode XXXIX: Play ‘Spot the Moron!’
Archives
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
Blogroll
Other Information
« Vegemite! | Main | Episode XXXVIII: Distracted in Oz »
Friday Cephalopod: Behold the shadow of your doooooom!
Category: Cephalopods • Organisms
Posted on: March 12, 2010 6:03 AM, by PZ Myers
Find more posts in: Life Science
Share this: Facebook Twitter Stumbleupon Reddit Email + More
TrackBacks
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/133513
Leave a comment
HTML commands: <i>italic</i>, <b>bold</b>, <a href="url">link</a>, <blockquote>quote</blockquote>
It's Euphemism Week! These words are banned: cock cunt damn fuck kirshenbaum mooney shit vegemite
Comments
Posted by: JamesPGH | March 12, 2010 6:19 AM
Sub-Halloween!
Posted by: ursulamajor | March 12, 2010 6:34 AM
It's the Borg Queen!
Posted by: KKBundy | March 12, 2010 7:55 AM
I'll be damned; it does look like the Borg queen. Is that Data in the corner?
Gorgeous shot though! So Lovecraftian.
Blessed Atheist Bible Study @ http://blessedatheist.com/
Posted by: Sven DiMilo | March 12, 2010 8:03 AM
of course, unlike the Borg queen, the "head" is not a head, but rather the mantle & visceral mass (basically the "abdomen" equivalent).
but yeah, there's a resemblence...
Posted by: thethyme | March 12, 2010 8:39 AM
Cathulhu Wakes and is Rising
Posted by: Holytape | March 12, 2010 9:02 AM
Great, first earthquakes and now this. And these creatures of the deep are truly evil and unstoppable. Any attempt at organizing a resistance to this tentacled horde is doomed to failure, as it will inevitably lead to an argument over the correct plural term 'Octopi, Octopusses, or Octopodes' which inevitably leads to lots of blood shed.
Shnoah's ark
Posted by: Tumsup | March 12, 2010 9:15 AM
Cthulhu? Not to worry, there's a narwal nearby to stop him eating ye.
Posted by: https://me.yahoo.com/a/K2PNji0at.txAjzTShOlxwLuFcVVFwbnng--#bd813 | March 12, 2010 10:35 AM
A sea bishop.
Posted by: Roxolan | March 12, 2010 11:03 AM
Reminds me a lot of the Slenderman.
Posted by: Janine, Mistress Of Foul Mouth Abuse, OM | March 12, 2010 11:08 AM
Is this related to a certain Harpy Of Doooooom?
Posted by: Givesgoodemail | March 12, 2010 11:21 AM
This lovely picture put me in a mood to write this.
If you squint really hard, the Eight-Legged One looks a little like Michelle Bachmann.
Posted by: Glen Davidson | March 12, 2010 11:23 AM
There's a sucker born every inch of its tentacles.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p
Posted by: Mike Wagner | March 12, 2010 12:05 PM
If I saw that in the water unexpectedly I might leave my own trail of ink.
I think the coolest thing I've ever encountered in the water was snorkeling in a bay here on Prince Edward Island as a kid. We swam into a wall of jelly globules, the size and shape of ping pong balls, with no visible stingers or orifice. The strangest "jellyfish" I'd ever seen. (At least that's what we figured they were) And there were millions of them. We cruised around in them for quite a while once we established there wasn't any stinging going on.
It *might* have been the eggs of body snatchers, but I'm not sure. Would anyone like to go for a walk down to the water? It's perfectly safe...
Trust me.
---
Even creationists have the right to free (dumb) speech.
http://bit.ly/8X7OPH
Posted by: Breton | March 12, 2010 12:24 PM
Mike Wagner,
You likely swam into a mass of comb-jellies or Ctenophores,organims which are jelly-like but are not true jellyfish (not even in teh same phylum, last I heard). Very common in Atlantic Canada waters, especially during the colder months. There are several species here in Nova Scotia, of which the spherical ones (Pleurobrachia spp) are the most common,in my experience. really neat critters, I love watching them move underwater..
Posted by: w1ndsurfer4944 | March 12, 2010 12:28 PM
Posted by: Nick | March 12, 2010 12:28 PM
I dunno. It kinda looks like a cross between Batman and Cthuhlu.
Posted by: Die Anyway | March 12, 2010 12:55 PM
Iconic to say the least. Wait... look... I think I see Jeezus... no, no, it's just the Virgin Mary again.
And damn you Tumsup... now I've got narwhals on the brain again. 'Cuz they are so awesome. :-)
Posted by: David Marjanović | March 12, 2010 1:14 PM
Indeed, one of these groups is more closely related to us than to the other.
People used to think it was obvious that the comb-jellies are closer to us triploblastic animals, but that has become very controversial.
Posted by: Mike Wagner | March 12, 2010 1:29 PM
@Breton #14
Thanks for the info :)
I'm glad they didn't turn out to have some powerful toxin or a digestive enzyme that rendered me into paste, and left my disappearance a legend for the county.
I guess it was silly swimming into the unknown but damn it if wasn't cool. :)
---
Even creationists have the right to free(dumb) of speech.
http://bit.ly/8X7OPH
Posted by: Bastion Of Sass | March 12, 2010 2:16 PM
I thought today's cephalopod look vaguely familiar:
http://www.007museum.com/Spectrering.jpg
Posted by: Sven DiMilo | March 12, 2010 2:25 PM
Not so fast...the most recent study I've seen resurrected the Coelenterata (i.e. a diploblastic sister clade to bilaterians):
Philippe, H., et al. (2009). Phylogenomics Revives Traditional Views on Deep Animal Relationships. http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822%2809%2900805-7
(Note also the monophyletic Porifera...that paper made me happy.)
Posted by: jcmartz.myopenid.com | March 12, 2010 3:25 PM
Looks menacing. Too bad is not halloween yet.
Posted by: David Marjanović | March 12, 2010 4:46 PM
Ah. That's a paper I haven't seen yet; I'll try to download it tomorrow.
However, I can't comment it anyway. Conflict of interest, you see. The thirteenth of the twenty authors is the head of the doctoral school I depend on... :-]
(Of course, that's another reason to read it.)
Posted by: Richard Austin | March 12, 2010 5:36 PM
For some reason, this picture reminds me of a shot of the Zerg Guardian from Starcraft...
http://www.scarea.pl/units/zguardian_g.jpg
... which is all we need.
Posted by: scarygirl | March 13, 2010 12:00 AM
D'awww, it wants a hug.