Fondling the Octopus

8 responses to “Fondling the Octopus”

1. 

   jurvetson

   Aug 18, 2013 at 6:20 am

   From the videoVideo

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2. 

   seatonsnet

   Aug 18, 2013 at 11:04 am

   In Spain, and the rest of the Mediterranean, when you catch an octopus, you take him by the legs and beat him to death against a rock like a old-fashioned washerwoman doing laundry in a creek and after thus "tenderizing" him, then you cook him and eat him.
   eatwell.recetasderechupete.com/recipes/09_06_Galician_Sty…

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3. 

   jurvetson

   Aug 18, 2013 at 8:22 pm

   So many medieval mimetic fossils around that sea…. =)

   Meanwhile, I have been marveling at their alien features: three hearts, detachable penis, and a bizarre bitmap display for skin. They can portray different images on their bodies to two moving observers, one male the other female, and flip the image at will as the relative positions change. Other cephalopods harvest symbiotic bioluminescent bacteria to selectively erase their shadows when hunting under moonlight. All this, and cool eyes too:

   
   more

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4. 

   msamaclean ©

   Aug 19, 2013 at 2:04 am

   Amazing creatures, indeed!

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5. 

   HeadOvMetal

   Aug 19, 2013 at 10:30 am

   What a beautiful sentient being. I would never eat him.

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6. 

   ukweli

   Aug 19, 2013 at 12:14 pm

   I always wonder what feats cuttlefish and octopi would get up to if they didn’t have such short lifespans. They clearly are curious, learning creatures.

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7. 

   jurvetson

   Aug 20, 2013 at 12:12 am

   Yes, very curious… and we know what that means for the cat….video
   

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8. 

   jurvetson

   Aug 28, 2013 at 3:57 pm

   This just in from Guy: Detatched octopus arms show awareness, react to danger:

   "It’s further evidence that octopus intelligence is unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Their arms continue to remain alert, reacting to pain, long after they have been removed from the body of the octopus. This isn’t just post-mortem twitching — the tentacles are aware of their environment, and responding to danger.

   This raises the question of whether the arms have something like minds of their own. Though the question is controversial, there is some observational evidence indicating that it could be so, he said. When an octopus is in an unfamiliar tank with food in the middle, some arms seem to crowd into the corner seeking safety while others seem to pull the animal toward the food, Godfrey-Smith explained, as if the creature is literally of two minds about the situation.

   No matter what the reason for the strange movement of the severed octopus arms, one thing is certain. This kind of scientific experiment probably won’t happen again any time soon. Because there is so much evidence for octopus intelligence, the European Union has issued a directive stating that no experiments may be done on octopuses (and possibly other cephalopods like squid) that cause them unnecessary pain or distress."

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