Cephalopod Awareness Week!

Anton

Anton

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And now to shamelessly copy/paste from the main site

October 8 – Octopus Day, for all the eight-armed species
October 9 – Nautilus Night, a time for all the lesser-known extant cephalopods
October 10 – Squid Day/Cuttlefish Day, or Squidturday, covering the tentacular species
October 11 – Myths and Legends Day, for all the fantastical cephalopods of movies, literature and legend. Release the Kraken!
October 12 – Fossil Day (to coincide with National Fossil Day), for all the incredible suckers that have gone extinct.

What are Cephalopods?

Ceph-a-lo-pods are a group of exclusively marine mollusks that include squid, octopus and nautilus. They are closely related to snails, slugs and clams. They are characterized by well-developed eyes and sucker-bearing tentacles. The word is from the combination of the Greek kefale and pous, roughly meaning head feet. Some folks pronouce it sefalopod, others say kefalopod.


Why October 8th?

Cephalopod Awareness Day was established in 2007 by members of TONMO, The Octopus News Magazine Online forum. While not (yet) an event proclaimed by any official governing body, Cephalopod Awareness Day was meant to bring attention to the diversity, conservation and biology of the world’s cephalopods. The date of October 8 was chosen as an auspicious occasion for appreciating animals with a combination of 8 or 10 appendages. Octopus have eight arms while squid and cuttlefish have eight arms and two tentacles. So the eighth day of the tenth month seemed like the best choice. But cephalopods are so awesome, four more days were added to the celebration (see above).

Why Celebrate?

People are engrossed by the seeming “alien intelligence” of these marine invertebrates and their remarkable abilities. But despite our familiarity with them, both for food and fascination, remarkably little is know about even the most common species.

*Cephalopods are represented in the fossil record dating back 500 million years.
*There are about 800 species of living cephalopods known to science, with many more as yet to be discovered.
*Since ancient times, cephalopods have been a recurring motif in myth, arts and literature and they remain a subject of popular culture today.
*Cephalopod are an important fishery with catches steadily increasing over the last 30 years, from about 1 million metric tonnes in 1970 to more than 3 million tonnes in 2001.
*There are no species of cephalopod currently listed on the UN endangered species (with one, possibly mythic, exception). However, this is more a testament to how little we know about these animals than a true indication of their conservation needs.

In spite of the large number of studies and research carried out on cephalopods, especially in recent decades, the life history of the majority of species is still unknown, and our knowledge of the life cycles of the members of this interesting class remains fragmentary. Information comes from studies in the field as well as from observations in the laboratory. However, little is known of life history for species that are not targets of regular fisheries, and only a handful of cephalopod species have been reared successfully in the laboratory.
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Go ahead and talk about all kinds of neat cephalopod things and share pictures and other stuff, because they're super cool! I'll start off Octopus Day by sharing my favorite octopus:

 
my birthday is octopus day? i'm so proud

although i'm already aware of the cephalopods, does that mean i even need to pay attention this week
 
It means you need to be more aware and help make others aware
 
For those who are just overwhelmed at all of the fantastic options of Octopi to choose from as their favorite, here's a few Big-name examples:

Blue-Ringed Octopus, known for its blue rings and powerful neurotoxin!

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Common Octopus, which is known for being, well, common! As it's so common, it is also the most well studied, with research showing that it is highly intelligent and capable of solving puzzles and opening jars.

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Seven-arm Octopus, known for having...seven arms!! It is also one of the largest, with a"maximum estimated total length of 4 m (13 ft) and mass of 75 kg (165 lb)."

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Argonauts, which do not have a true shell, but rather a unique air-filled sac to help maintain buoyancy!

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Dumbo Octopus, known for their ear-like fins--"Dumbo". They are also the only species of octopus that eat their prey whole!

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Glowing Sucker Octopus, one of few to have exhibited bioluminescence!

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Flapjack Octopus, the flattest of all octopuses! Also made famous in Little Nemo with the character 'Pearl'.

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But wait, there's more!

Blanket Octopus, which are immune to the Portuguese Man O' War poison. They use their webbed-tentacle cape to rip off the Man O' War stingers and use them as a flail as a defense mechanism!

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Football Octopus, unique for having the only true gas bladder among other octopuses to help control buoyancy.

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Glass Octopus, known for being transparent, as well as quite gelatinous.

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Telescope Octopus, also transparent, but has tubular eyes!

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Giant Octopus, is giant! As they are larger and tend to be more intelligent, they are often kept on displays in zoos and aquariums, where they exhibit the ability to recognize humans that come in contact with them frequently.

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There are others out there, so take a look!
 
Octopi are adorable. :3

Cant wait till nautilus day. Nautiloids are my favorite. :3
 
While Octopus Day has come to a close for me, I am still accepting anyone willing to share their favorite one.

Meanwhile,

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Source
 
bloop!

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Caught those in Animal Crossing
 
There's only 6 extant species of nautilus! My favorite is the Bellybutton Nautilus.....................

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I rattled off nautilus facts all day today to one of my coworkers. He was so glad that I shared such knowledge with him that he was screaming and angry and trying to hide from me, presumably because he felt silly for not already knowing things like how the nautilus is the only cephalopod with a true shell and that while cephalopods are renowned for their excellent eyesight, nautiluses actually can't see very well but instead rely on their keen sense of smell to detect predators and prey. A new fact every 10-15 minutes for 6 hours straight, it was joyous.

Have you guys shared your cephalopod knowledge with friends, family, coworkers, and strangers passing by on the street?
 
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