First, feel what it means to have a vampire squid gazing upon you (and look at the reflection of the camera taking the shot).
Photo source: Pharyngula
Next, feel what it means to have the vampire squid wink at you. Check out the sphincter action. Batting one's eyes would be much less attractive if humans had to do it like this.
Thanks for the link, Alan. You've just made the cephalopod world a lot more interesting.
Holy crap, that thing is awesome.
ReplyDeleteTotally finding a picture and using it as my desktop.
Geeez!! How cool is this??!! I had no idea any animal had a sphincter for eyelids. Kind of makes sense though. But I agree--not very sexy...
ReplyDeleteIt's beautiful!
ReplyDeleteLOL! I love the captions on Pharyngula - first it's all. Ach the eye - it sears my soul. Close it, close it! And then, the wink happens and he says: "JEBUS! It's got a sphincter for an eye! OPEN IT AGAIN! OPEN IT AGAIN!"
ReplyDeleteI never get tired of good ol' vampy squid. I'm so going to get a tattoo of one someday.
THANKS FOR THESE PICS!
talk about major crows feet! lol!
ReplyDeleteThose are from the book The Deep by Claire Nouvian. HIGHLY recommended.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/nouvian/nouvian_gallery.html
Can someone with the mad skillz make this into an animated .gif? Pleeze?
ReplyDeleteHas it swallowed a princess phone?? The light along its...chin (?)We thought we knew a lot about cephs but we definitely did not know about the blink. If this is a blink, what does it look like when it squints?!
ReplyDelete