Cephalopods prefer higher resolution!

According to scientists, and this article on MSNBC.com, octopuses really can tell the difference in that picture quality!

Researchers from the Sydney Institute of Marine Science found that by playing video on a liquid crystal high definition televion for gloomy octopuses (Octopus tetricus), they could accurately see how the animals reacted to prey (a crab), a new object (a jar), and a potential predator (another octopus), responses usually only seen in the ocean.

Read the full article here!

If that link doesn't work, try this one.

Image via http://www.botanybaywatch.com.au and their article on Octopus tetricus.
Quoted text © 2010 LiveScience.com via msnbc.com


This article was recommended by Patty! Thanks Patty. If you have something you think we ought to tell the world about, check out the EMAIL link at the top of the right column! Now CTP has an email address all its own, no more clicking to authors profiles to find someone to send your wonderful suggestions and comments to.

Call of Chthulu - the film

Sure there aren't that many tentacles actually in the trailer, but we all know they're there in the background like a feeling of impending doom. Thanks to Mr. Cassidy for sharing this with me - the way youtube is meant to be shared - outdoors on an iphone!

Follow @CephalopodTea on Twitter!

Hey, cephalopod peeps! The Cephalopod Tea Party blog is now on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CephalopodTea/. Also, have a cuttlefish photo, because we loves them.

The Most Beautiful Yet Deadly Octopus on Earth

From the article on the Environmental Grafitti blog: Beautiful and delicate as the coral itself, the four known species of blue-ringed octopus are largely nocturnal, spending their days nestled like land mines in makeshift nests – usually sea shells, but since the advent of man, these flexible invertebrates have made fruitful use of bottles and also cans. Unlike many sea creatures its size (the largest grow to about 57cm), the blue-ringed octopus has been known to become quite aggressive when its seclusion is disturbed – say, by the foot of a clumsy human. It will retract its arms to make its sharp beak protrude in an attempt to discharge one of nature’s most deadly poisons – the deadly toxin tetradodoxin.

Tetradodoxin is the same deadly ingredient found in the flesh of the pufferfish. In the blue-ringed octopus, it is generated by bacteria that live symbiotically within the host creature’s salivary gland. Following a bite, the toxin will usually kill a human – a being many times the size of the octopus – in a matter of minutes. No effective antidote is yet known. The octopus uses its beak to crack the carapace of crustaceans and the shells of mollusks, afterwards injecting its deadly saliva into the prey’s body. It will suck the soft flesh through the hole it has made, leaving behind an empty shell.

Even amidst the endless variation of the animal kingdom, rarely has death been packaged so attractively. Like many of its relatives in the group Cephalapoda (literally meaning ‘head foot’, due to the apparent body structure of octopodes, squid and others), the blue-ringed octopus boasts a flamboyant colour scheme that changes according to its mood. The meanings of cephalapod colouring are complex and not always well understood, though scientists are slowly coming to the conclusion that they are part of a sophisticated communication system that operates between these intelligent animals.

Human-Faced Cephalopods by Scott Radke

I just wrote up a post on the incredible sculptures of Scott Radke on my main blog, and was pleased to discover a fair number of his creations are of a cephalopod-ish nature.

(Squid #1, 2008)
For more of Radke's critters, check out my post Pretty and Dirty Together, or rummage about on his lovely Web site.

(Octopus #3, 2006)
Amazingly expressive and rife with tentacles. What more could we wish for?

The Curious Sofa

I think Anthropologie hates me...because they have just stocked the most incredible sofa in the world, and made it completely unfathomably out my price range.


And there is incredible inky indigo tentacle wallpaper, too.


And if that's not enough, there are squid drapes, as well.


I die of want. Via the always wonderful Steampunk Home...