sciencefriday:
“ In 1940, John Steinbeck cataloged wildlife in the Sea of Cortez. Now, a new creature lurks beneath the surface. “Trying to remember the Gulf is like trying to recreate a dream,” John Steinbeck wrote about the Gulf of California.
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sciencefriday:
“ In 1940, John Steinbeck cataloged wildlife in the Sea of Cortez. Now, a new creature lurks beneath the surface. “Trying to remember the Gulf is like trying to recreate a dream,” John Steinbeck wrote about the Gulf of California.
On...
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sciencefriday:
“ In 1940, John Steinbeck cataloged wildlife in the Sea of Cortez. Now, a new creature lurks beneath the surface. “Trying to remember the Gulf is like trying to recreate a dream,” John Steinbeck wrote about the Gulf of California.
On...
Zoom Info
sciencefriday:
“ In 1940, John Steinbeck cataloged wildlife in the Sea of Cortez. Now, a new creature lurks beneath the surface. “Trying to remember the Gulf is like trying to recreate a dream,” John Steinbeck wrote about the Gulf of California.
On...
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sciencefriday:

In 1940, John Steinbeck cataloged wildlife in the Sea of Cortez. Now, a new creature lurks beneath the surface.

“Trying to remember the Gulf is like trying to recreate a dream,” John Steinbeck wrote about the Gulf of California.

On March 11, 1940, Steinbeck, his wife Carol, and his close companion, marine biologist Ed Ricketts, boarded an old sardine fishing boat in Monterey, California and set sail south to Mexico’s Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez. The 76-foot Western Flyer had been converted into a makeshift laboratory for scientific observation, loaded with preserving jars, long-handled dip nets, microscopes, and a hearty supply of beer. As the vessel slipped past the mouth of the bay and headed south into the open sea, it marked the beginning of a historic journey to Mexico’s Sea of Cortez.

“Let us go,” Steinbeck wrote about the voyage, in The Log from the Sea of Cortez, “into the Sea of Cortez, realizing that we become forever a part of it.”

Over the course of six weeks and 4,000 miles, Steinbeck and Ricketts explored the “washtub bluing blue” body of water wedged between Baja California Peninsula and Mainland Mexico. They collected and preserved marine invertebrates, trudged through eelgrass, peeked under rocks to examine intertidal species, and recorded the distribution of the diverse fauna of the Sea of Cortez—from Sally Lightfoot crabs to gray porpoises. Together, they catalogued over 550 species of marine invertebrates. 

But now, one sea creature—absent from Ricketts and Steinbeck’s catalogs—lurks in sometimes massive swarms beneath the Gulf waters: The voracious Humboldt squid, an aggressive cephalopod that can grow up to six feet in length and weigh as much as 110 pounds. Read about the mystery here. 

Photos by Ed Ricketts Collection/Western Flyer Foundation/California History Room, Monterey Public Library/Chad Waluk/William Gilly.

sciencefriday:
“ Researchers are looking to cephalopods for inspiration for their biomimetic designs. Cephalopods have an array of fascinating—and bizarre—features. Researchers have seen octopuses sprint across ocean floors on two arms; flamboyant...

sciencefriday:

Researchers are looking to cephalopods for inspiration for their biomimetic designs.

Cephalopods have an array of fascinating—and bizarre—features. Researchers have seen octopuses sprint across ocean floors on two arms; flamboyant cuttlefish pulse black bands across their bodies; and squid squirt ink to attract mates. And though cephalopods’ behaviors and biology are curious in their own right, materials scientists and engineers see these amazing tentacled creatures as a never-ending source of ideas for their biomimetic designs.

“Cephalopods are such exciting sources of inspiration,” says Alon Gorodetsky, a materials scientist at the University of California, Irvine. “The things they do, how they move, even their brains—it’s like science fiction stuff.”

Gorodetsky and other technologists talk about an array of cephalopod-inspired innovations, from adaptive camouflage to self-healing materials. Listen here. 

Video by Roger Hanlon

exomoonextremophile:

Bobtail squid buries itself in the sand. Someone should seriously gif this, at least the last few seconds when its covering its head.

sciencefriday:
“ This flamboyant cuttlefish can crawl and camouflage like no other. Have you ever seen a cuttlefish walk?
If you stop by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s “Tentacles” exhibit, you might. The aquarium is one of a handful in the country to...
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sciencefriday:
“ This flamboyant cuttlefish can crawl and camouflage like no other. Have you ever seen a cuttlefish walk?
If you stop by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s “Tentacles” exhibit, you might. The aquarium is one of a handful in the country to...
Zoom Info
sciencefriday:
“ This flamboyant cuttlefish can crawl and camouflage like no other. Have you ever seen a cuttlefish walk?
If you stop by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s “Tentacles” exhibit, you might. The aquarium is one of a handful in the country to...
Zoom Info

sciencefriday:

This flamboyant cuttlefish can crawl and camouflage like no other.

Have you ever seen a cuttlefish walk?

If you stop by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s “Tentacles” exhibit, you might. The aquarium is one of a handful in the country to display flamboyant cuttlefish (Metasepia pfefferi), a diminutive species of cephalopod that often forgoes swimming to crawl, army-style, along the seafloor (or the bottom of a tank).

“They kinda lumber around on four appendages,” says Bret Grasse, who manages the cephalopods in the aquarium’s exhibit. Those appendages include two large arms and portions of the cuttlefish’s mantle, which it extends “to provide what looks like two projected legs,” he explains.

Aside from that weird walk, M. pfefferi is also unique among cuttlefish for flashing a resplendent display of hues and patterns. “I think of them as sort of like a biological bouquet of flowers,” says Grasse. “They’re just so gorgeous and exotic, and they make such an unbelievably beautiful arrangement of colors together, from reds, pinks, to yellows, to whites, blacks.” Read more about the dazzling cuttlefish here. 

Photos by Monterey Bay Aquarium

sciencefriday:
“ Collect them all! Meet our cephalopod masters! Why do we love cephalopods so much at Science Friday? Partly it’s because they’re cute (or at least some of them are). Partly it’s because they’re so smart. But it’s also because...

sciencefriday:

Collect them all! Meet our cephalopod masters!

Why do we love cephalopods so much at Science Friday? Partly it’s because they’re cute (or at least some of them are). Partly it’s because they’re so smart. But it’s also because they’re…well…kinda weird.

You don’t need to turn to the world of fiction to find fascinating examples of animals with traits that make us scratch our heads in wonder. Some cephalopods are able to mimic their environment so well that they take on the color and texture of their surroundings. Cephalopod eyes developed independently of vertebrate eyes, but they managed to evolve many of the same structures, a classic example of convergent evolution. And cephalopods solve problems remarkably well. One octopus in New Zealand was able to unscrew a jar containing his crab lunch in less than a minute.

This year for Cephalopod Week we illustrated a few of our favorite species in the cephalopoda class. Here’s some fun facts about the ones we chose that keep us (ahem) tentacled pink. Learn more here! 

Art by Daniel Peterschmidt

montereybayaquarium:
“ Flashy flamboyant cuttlefish aren’t fazed when found by a foe. In a blink they broadcast boldly, blinding bedazzled brutes with a bluff:
““Don’t bother with this beast, because I could be your bane.” ”

montereybayaquarium:

Flashy flamboyant cuttlefish aren’t fazed when found by a foe. In a blink they broadcast boldly, blinding bedazzled brutes with a bluff: 

“Don’t bother with this beast, because I could be your bane.”