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Half-Squid, Half-Octopus Discovered Off of Hawaii

Otter writes "A unique creature that's been dubbed an 'octosquid' with eight arms and a squid-like mantle, was discovered off Hawaii. The creature, of a previously unknown species, was trapped in the net covering a 3,000 foot-deep intake tube for the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority. From the article: 'The octosquid was pulled to the surface, along with three rattail fish and half a dozen satellite jellyfish, and stayed alive for three days. According to War, the lab usually checks its filters once a month, but this time, it put a plankton net in one of the filters and checked it two weeks later. The pitch-black conditions at 3,000 feet below sea level are unfamiliar to most but riveting to scientists who have had the opportunity to submerge. The sea floor is full of loose sediment, big boulders and rocks, and a lot of mucuslike things floating in the water, which are usually specimens that died at the surface and drifted to the bottom.'"

49 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. Half squid, half octopus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    All delicious!

    1. Re:Half squid, half octopus by Walt+Dismal · · Score: 2, Funny

      DNA analysis reveals it's an ocean-going descendent of the ManBearPig genus. Scientists are afraid to speculate what it tastes like, but Wal-Mart shoppers probably will know that soon.

    2. Re:Half squid, half octopus by Evanisincontrol · · Score: 4, Funny

      That's garbage. People who shop at Wal-Mart can't afford sea food.

    3. Re:Half squid, half octopus by Walt+Dismal · · Score: 5, Funny

      It won't be *labeled* as seafood...

    4. Re:Half squid, half octopus by Harmonious+Botch · · Score: 2, Funny

      Either way, I won't mess with one. I hear that they are armed to the teeth.

    5. Re:Half squid, half octopus by Thrip · · Score: 5, Funny

      I hear that they are armed to the teeth. Worse than that: they're toothed to the arm.
      --
      I'm awake! The answer is BONK!
    6. Re:Half squid, half octopus by LuNa7ic · · Score: 2, Funny

      *blah blah* Octosquid Overlords *blah blah*

      --
      *runs*
    7. Re:Half squid, half octopus by ultranova · · Score: 2, Funny

      In any case, I wonder if it will taste more like calamari, or octopus.

      What I want to know is: when it was caught, did it shout "It's a trap!" ?

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  2. Taningia danae by BWJones · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There have been 8 armed squid described before including the Taningia danae species by the same scientists, though our understanding of these animals is poor at best. Though I have to say I am puzzled as to why the Octosquid was assigned to the Mastigoteuthidae genus other than it seems to be a catchall genus for weird squid species that we do not know much about...

    Oh and hey Otter! What's up dude? I actually had no idea these guys were in Kona. Had that been known, I would have visited last time I was there.

    --
    Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
  3. Re:Octosquid is here by TheMeuge · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now that octosquid is here, could the OctoParrot be far behind?

  4. Natural by Joebert · · Score: 3, Funny

    It all looks the same in the dark.

    --
    Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
  5. We need patent reform! by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 3, Funny

    That way, scientists will be able to patent valuable genes in our half-squid/half-octopus brethern, as opposed to killing them to protect their trade secrets

    --
    Your ad here. Ask me how!
  6. Stupid Name by Seumas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They have been calling it an OctoSquid. I have to say, I dislike that. I would prefer that they call it a Squidopus!

    Also, it looks a lot like a weird Japanese sex toy.

    1. Re:Stupid Name by superpulpsicle · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It needs about 30 more tentacles to count as Japanese sex toys.

    2. Re:Stupid Name by geekdoc · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I like SQUOCTOPUS!

    3. Re:Stupid Name by Harmonious+Botch · · Score: 4, Funny

      They should call it Cmdr Tako

    4. Re:Stupid Name by drekhan · · Score: 3, Funny

      "a weird Japanese sex toy." This statement implies that are normal Japanese sex toys, which as far as I can tell, isn't the case.

  7. OMG! An old one! by cfortin · · Score: 3, Funny

    IE! IE! Microsoft fthagn!

  8. Damnit by Vulva+R.+Thompson,+P · · Score: 4, Funny

    Kids left the gate open again.

  9. But.... by rune2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Does it have frickin' lasers?

  10. Woo! I love it! by erroneus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Inter-species tentacle porn!!!

  11. Neon Meate Dream Of A Octafish by Threni · · Score: 4, Informative

    Captain Beefheart could not be reached for comment.

  12. Title is wrong by ucblockhead · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is not "half squid, half octopus". This is a squid with eight arms that is no more related to octopuses than any other sort of squid.

    Squids and octopuses are far too far apart to breed.

    --
    The cake is a pie
    1. Re:Title is wrong by lawpoop · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I haven't RTFA, but they could be saying that it's one of those creatures from a lineage 'in between' squids and octopuses. Not that it's a descendant of a squid/octopus mating, but rather is a descendant from a common ancestor of squids and octopuses, one that happens to look like an octopus/squid mash-up.

      --
      Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
      -- Pablo Picasso
    2. Re:Title is wrong by pragma_x · · Score: 2, Informative

      I grew up in NoVA myself. What you saw were probably cave crickets:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_cricket

      They love drainpipes, sheds and dark basements. They are quite spider-like and get rather big and nasty looking. But there's no way they wove webs - those were probably left by nursery-web spiders, or something else of similar size and morphology to those cave crickets.

      Could be worse though. Thankfully, you'll never see ones like these in your mom's basement:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel_spider

    3. Re:Title is wrong by Squalish · · Score: 3, Interesting

      That appears to be a cave cricket, family Rhaphidophoridae.

      They do not weave webs, that I am aware of, and the particular species that infests my house do not chirp. Furthermore, they move very differently from most large spiders - they rarely move more than a foot without hopping at least some, and they can hop about two feet maximum. In a somewhat interesting(in an evolutionary sense) instinct, they often hop towards motion, which combined with their tendency to lie completely still afterward, presumably throws off cave predators better than hopping away.

      --
      People in Soviet Russia, however, appear to be afflicted with amusing juxtapositions of the aforementioned situation
    4. Re:Title is wrong by ucblockhead · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Huh. Apparently pointing out that one should read what the article says before making claims about what the authors mean is a "troll", while speaking through ignorance is not. Yay slashdot, website of people who don't bother to find out.

      --
      The cake is a pie
  13. Oh, dear. by The+Ultimate+Fartkno · · Score: 5, Funny

    As someone with a deathly fear of squid *and* octopus I have to say that it really feels like Satan and Mother Nature have decided to tag-team together in an all-out effort to make my darkest nightmares become incarnate. Next week they'll find a jellysquidfishapus and I'll end up like one of those H.P. Lovecraft characters who sees the most horrible thing possible and just dies on the spot.

    I'll miss you guys.

    1. Re:Oh, dear. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      A deathly fear of squid and octopus?

      Well, I hate to mention this, but if you're serious, don't look up Vampyroteuthis infernalis . Like this one from Hawaii, which looks somewhat similar, it is a deep red color and lives in the deep sea. Vampyroteuthis is also known as the "vampire squid", it shares traits of both squid and octopods (another similarity), and its body is (wait for it) described as having "the consistency of a jellyfish". So, it sounds rather close to the "jellysquidfishapus" you imagine in your nightmares. Sorry. It looks like it exists already. If it's any consolation, it's small (max. 13cm long).

    2. Re:Oh, dear. by The+Ultimate+Fartkno · · Score: 5, Funny

      *thud*

    3. Re:Oh, dear. by MadMidnightBomber · · Score: 4, Funny

      "He wouldn't stop and write 'thud', would he?"
      "Maybe he was dictating?"
      "Oh, shut up."

      --
      "It doesn't cost enough, and it makes too much sense."
    4. Re:Oh, dear. by argStyopa · · Score: 4, Funny

      This is drifting off topic, but I looked up that intriguingly-named creature.

      The wiki says it was discovered by "German teuthologist Carl Chun"

      "teuthologist Carl Chun"?

      It took the anagram server about 0.1 seconds to come up with 'Cthulhu great colonist' from that one. So you might want to take those nightmares a little more seriously, mate.

      (That or Cthulhu Scrotal Toeing which hints at truly blasphemous levels of hentai...)

      --
      -Styopa
  14. Who cares how it came to be... by nobodyman · · Score: 2, Funny

    I just wanna know, how does it taste!? I can't wait to try me some octomari!! Or is it calapus?

  15. Plan 10! by suv4x4 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Greetings, my friend. We are all interested in biological life, for that is how you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, biological creatures such as these will affect you as a creature.

    You are interested in the unknown... the mysterious. The unexplainable. That is why you are here. And now, for the first time, we are bringing to you, the full story of what happened on that fateful day. We are bringing you all the evidence, based only on the secret testimony, of the miserable souls, who survived this terrifying ordeal.

    The incidents, the places. My friend, we cannot keep this a secret any longer. Let us punish the guilty. Let us reward the innocent. My friend, can your heart stand the shocking facts of octosquids from the deep ocean?

  16. Another photo by FleaPlus · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's another article with a more close-up photo. Does anybody else hear a slithering voice saying "The Stars Are Right" when you look into its ever-so-hypnotic eye?

  17. Holy Shit! by GuyMannDude · · Score: 3, Funny

    This has got to be the worst nightmare of every sexy, busty teenage green- or pink-haired schoolgirl, ninja, and swordswoman in Japan!

    GMD

  18. ...and It's red because... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    TFA fails to explain a curious trait of deep-sea beasties like this. They're red because in very low light conditions, red appears black - good camouflage in an inky abyss. Red pigment is much easier for creatures to synthesize than black.

  19. 8 arms??? by Pedrito · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...with eight arms...

    I hate to get into the technobabble nonsense, but I think they're called tentacles (or testicles, if you're a pretty, French foreign-exchange student).

  20. Iä Iä Cthulhu Ftagh'n Iä Iä by geekondemand · · Score: 2, Funny

    I for one welcome these harbingers of our dark master from beyond!

  21. I was really drunk in Hawaii a year ago... by Octopus · · Score: 5, Funny

    I remember an underwater nightclub, a squid bachelorette party, lots of dancing, some blow...

    Oh shit.

  22. Re:Octosquid is here by gyrogeerloose · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They're already here--parrots have squid-like beaks.

    --
    This ain't rocket surgery.
  23. life imitating cartoons by louden+obscure · · Score: 3, Funny

    was there a kitchen sponge living in a pineapple found nearby?

    --
    Serenity now, insanity later.
    1. Re:life imitating cartoons by eln · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sorry, Squidward only has 6 legs (4 legs and 2 arms really).

      I'm ashamed that I know that.

  24. You're wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Arms and tentacles are technically different things. An Octopus has 8 "arms." A squid has 8 "arms" + 2 "tentacles" (longer than arms) for a total of 10 appendages. This speciment was found with only 8 arms, like an octopus (instead of the 8 arms + 2 tentacles arrangement of most sqiuds), but with the mantel of a squid (which octopi lack).

    So arms and tentacles are not interchangeble references.

    I found all this from a simple google of the differnces between squids and octopi. You might want to do the same before attempting to correct your fellow slashdotters with mistaken information.

  25. Imagine by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 2, Funny
    A Beowulf cluster of these...

    And no it does not run Linux, even though is has base 8.

    And it would sure fuck with the iphone's multi-touch interface.

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.
  26. Re:Octosquid is here by Jimmy+King · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wouldn't that be a Squarrot, though?

  27. Re:Octosquid is here by WeblionX · · Score: 4, Funny

    Four heads, four tails, and all dead. I'm telling you this octoparrot is no more. It has ceased to be.

    --
    (\(\
    (=_=) Bani!
    (")")
  28. Re:Octosquid is here by jollyreaper · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now that octosquid is here, could the OctoParrot be far behind? Don't even ask about octopussy. See, I thought that was a fucking brilliant idea when I was a kid, it'd be a cat but with eight fluffy bendy legs that are like tails they can walk on. It would be unusual but cute. And then I found out that pussy was another name for a vagina and the image got a whole lot more terrifying. Even later, I found out about Japanese tentacle monsters and figured this must be what the lady tentacle monsters would look like.
    --
    Kwisatz Haderach
    Sell the spice to CHOAM
    This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
  29. Re:Woo! I love it! by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 2, Funny

    Isn't all tentacle porn inter-species? Or are there actually some sick fucks in this world who actually like watching tentacle monsters raping other tentacle monsters?

    --
    You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!