Cuttlefish Mating

Cuttlefish mating is a bit strange if you have never seen it before. It usually consists of a combination of peaceful encounters, intense staring contests, quick physical confrontations, and tricking each other into wasting their time. Peaceful encounters rarely happen due to the fact that there are usually 5-10 males to every female. Intense staring contests are the most common and is really more of a battle of wills than anything. One will eventually admit defeat and go on looking for a mate. Physical confrontations are not very common, but it does happen. It usually consists of one blow to the opponent and then the confrontation will be over. If a male is defeated (and is small enough) he can disguise himself as a female and hopefully find a mate later.

Cuttlefish Overview

The cuttlefish is a small to medium sized mollusk with 8 arms and 2 tentacles in pairs. Cuttlefish are uniquely colorful. They range from green, red, blue, yellow, orange, brown, pink, and white. They have an unusual habit of continuously rotating their colors. This behavior is called “flashing”. Cuttlefish “flash” while mating and fighting. Cuttlefish are masters of deception; they can blend into their surroundings and appear to be the opposite sex to fool other cuttlefish. Even more amazing, new research suggests that cuttlefish (as well as octopods and squid) may be able to see with their skin! This explains why they are able to perfectly camouflage themselves. Cuttlefish are found in all oceans, warm or cold, with the exception of the east coast of the United States. There are 120 known species. They live 1-3 years. Cuttlefish eat shrimp, crabs, and fish. They eject ink like squid and octopods. Cuttlefish are the most beautifully colorful and animated of Cephalopods.   

The Fire Shooter Squid

The "fire shooter squid" formally known as Heteroteuthis Dispar is squid that  can secrete bioluminescent photophores to blind or confuse predators long enough to escape.

Vampire Squid

This is an edited version of this post because I was not pleased with what I had originally done with this post.

The vampire squid is a small deep-sea dwelling squid that can be found in the temperate and tropical oceans. This squid has unique retractile (capable of being retracted) sensory filaments show that the vampire squid has similarities to both squid and octopuses, which shows that it has it's own order: Vampyromorphida.

And now a photo that completely does not show it's actual size.

Squid For Food

Squid are the most eaten cephalopod. Squid are usually fried (deep) and can be rubbery if not prepared right. The whole body can be stuffed, cut into flat pieces, or sliced into rings. The arms, tentacles, and ink are also edible. The only  parts not eaten are the break and the glades (pen). Squid are popular cuisines as diverse as Canadian, Chinese, Greek, Turkish, English, American, Japanese, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipino. Squid is a good food source for zinc, manganese, copper, selenium, vitamin B12, and riboflavin.

Squid

The next mollusk family is the squid. 

Squid size varies greatly, from 8.5 inches to 551 inches! Generally they have 8 arms and 2 tentacles arranged in pairs but some species have 10 arms. Squids are fast! They can reach top speeds of 25 mph (as fast as some sharks), but only in short spurts. They can be found in all oceans from tropical to arctic waters. Squids live between 5-30 years, are solitary and found in abundance in our oceans. There are over 300 species of squid and all are predators. Small squid eat krill and plankton; larger squid hunt fish, the largest hunt whales. Like the octopods squid squirt ink to foil their predators. Squids are amazing in their range and diversity.

Grimpoteuthis

First off let me apologize, the blog seems to have some technical problems(this is affecting most earlier posts and may affect later also)

Grimpoteuthis is a genus of pelagic umbrella octopus that live in the deep sea. Also known as Dumbo octopuses. All spesies of Grimpoteuthis are bathyal creatures, living at extreme depths of 9,800-13,100ft with some living up to 23,000ft below sea level, which is the deepest of any known octopus.
They are some of the rarest Octopoda species. The largest Dumbo octopus ever recorded was 5.9ft in length and weighed 13lb.

An Octopuses Intelegence

Octopuses are highly intelligent, possibly more so than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists, but maze and problem solving experiments have shown evidence of a memory system that can store both short and long term memory. It is not known precisely what contribution learning makes to adult octopus behavior. Young octopuses learn almost no behaviors from their parents, with whom they have very little contact. In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning, although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.

Tool Use

The octopus has been shown to use tools. At least four specimens of the veined octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) have been witnessed retrieving discarded coconut shells, manipulating them, and then reassembling them to use as shelter. 

The Mimic Octopus

The mimic octopus is a species of octopus capable of impersonating other sea creatures. Octopuses can change color and texture because of pigment sacs known as chromatophores. The mimic octopus possesses chromatophores as well as the unique behavior of taking shape of various objects and animals. Many animals can imitate a different species to avoid or intimidate predators, but the mimic octopus is the only one who can imitate as diverse a range of forms in order to elude predators. Some of the more common animals the mimic octopus imitates are the following:

Lion fish – The lion fish is a poisonous fish with brown and white stripes, and spines that trail behind it on all sides. When the octopus changes its color and shapes its eight legs to look like spines, it is indeed conceivable that to the eyes of a potential predator, what might otherwise look like suitable prey, appears in fact as a highly venomous creature that should be avoided.

Sea snake – If under attack, a mimic octopus may hide completely in a hole except for two of its legs, which it sticks out in opposite directions. What remains in view is a long thin object with white and black bands running across the elongated body. Again the prospect of tangling with the highly venomous sea snake is something many predators would not attempt, and they therefore may swim away, leaving the octopus unharmed.

Flatfish – By pulling its arms together on one side, and flattening out his body while moving forward along the ocean floor, the mimic octopus imitates a flatfish.

Jellyfish – The Mimic Octopus will act as a Jellyfish sometimes to frighten and discourage certain predators. It does this by puffing up its head and siphon and letting its arms trail behind it. The octopus will then impersonate the motions of a jellyfish swimming by going to the surface and then slowly sinking with its arms spread evenly around its body.

The Blue Ringed Octopus

The blue ringed octopus is a small octopus that has a palish body and blue rings. This is the only octopus who's venom is deadly to humans. It's venoms major neurotoxin component is the same as pufferfish and some poison dart frogs. It's venom can result in nausea, respiratory arrest, heart failure, severe and sometimes total paralysis, and blindness. It can cause death in minutes if not treated. First aid treatment is pressure to the wound and artificial respiration once the paralysis has disabled the victim's respiratory muscles, which often occurs within minutes of being bitten.Because the venom primarily kills through paralysis, victims are frequently saved if artificial respiration is started and maintained before marked cyanosis and hypotension develop. Victims who survive the first 24 hours usually recover completely. This octopus had a part in the 007 movie Octopussy.

Things That Make Octopuses Interesting

Octopuses along with cuttlefish have an amazing camouflage system. This system is made possible by specialized muscles. These muscles are a little different than normal muscles, when the are triggered they don't move anything instead they change color! Some also change the texture of the skin. Octopuses have no skeleton so they can slip into just about anywhere. Octopuses eyes are very good, in fact they are made a lot like our own.

Octopuses

This post will be about octopuses in general. 
First of all octopi is the incorrect pluralization of octopus; octopuses, octopods, and octopoda are all the correct forms. They are correct because the suffix -us is Greek while -i is Latin. Octopods range in size, but their maximum arm span is 9 meters. They have four pairs of arms, three hearts (two for the gills and one for the body).Octopods have two eyes on either side of the head which is commonly mistaken for the mantle, which is the body.Octopods have no internal skeleton or shell, but they have a beak.  They can squeeze into small areas and can re-grow lost arms. In fact, octopods have 3/5 of their neurons in their arms, which means each of their arms has a mind of its own. An arm that is severed will continue to function as before, and if it finds food it will try to pass it to its mouth. Octopods have the amazing ability to change their body shape, color, texture and pattern of their skin because of a network of pigment cells and specialized muscles. They are able to imitate other animals and blend into their surroundings. Octopods are the smartest invertebrate. They use tools and collect shells and other objects to make fortresses called “gardens” around their lairs. They have individual personalities. An octopod will release a cloud of black ink when it feels threatened. The ink not only obscures the view of the pursuer, but contains a substance that dulls their sense of smell as well. Octopods are found in tropical and temperate waters, but some live in the deep sea. The octopods that live in the deep sea are finned, while those who live in shallower water are finless. Octopods are predators. They eat fish, shrimp, crabs, lobsters, mussels, scallops, and clams. In the wild they live an average of 1-2 years. The octopus is the smartest cephalopod but it has the shortest life span.