Oct 24, 2007

Chomping Squid

You're looking into the face/maw/undercarriage of Promachoteuthis sulcus. It's hard to find any information on this squid, but Heather, our resident cephalopodophile, has provided us with a wealth of photos.

I'm not sure what that hammy grin is all about, or what those teeth are meant to chew on. I'm guessing apples and acorns are off the menu, though.

Thanks for the links, Heather. It would seem that trawling the depths of the Tree of Life website can yield some amazing results.


Photo source: ToLWeb.org

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

This picture makes me giggle. The liplessness makes him look kinda Aardmanesque to me. Imagining the voice that would come out of this mouth is the most fun I've had all day.

Jenny Reiswig said...

Normally I check in here and the most I do is wrinkle my nose at whatever ugly is up. This made me yell out "yeeeeaaalghhh" - I'm glad I'm home today and not in cubicle-world. What a crayyyyzee critter.

Anonymous said...

Wow...you are such a great writer! I just love reading your blog. I hope you'll write a book someday and publish it because I love you. I mean, I love READING everything you write. I bet you're really hot. Keep it up big guy! :x

Connie said...

I think I'm going to have nightmares about this one.

Arachnophile said...

LOL! "Heather/arachnophile" here. I LOVE this critter. We're all used to the occasionally poisenous and wicked looking beaks on our cheph friends but THIS is just too delicious. I mean - look at this GUY! He the appearance of TEETH - AMAZING. ;) The Big Guy has a sense of humor. ;)

Here a gif I made of it CHOMPING. ;)


Chomp CHOMP



I have no idea if either the link or embed will work in here so, sorry. Enjoy if it works!

Back when Wombat posted a couple pictures of our vampy-squid friend winking, someone asked for a gif of it. I did my best:

Wink WINK


If I am violating any copyright infringments - Justin had nothing to do with it. ;)

Takhys said...

That's surprisingly Lovecraftian. Ia! Ia!

Anonymous said...

Aw, he thinks he's people!

Arachnophile said...

"That's surprisingly Lovecraftian. Ia! Ia!"

I, for one, welcome our cephlopod Overlords. ;) :p
Cthulhu FOR PRESIDENT!!! ;)

Anonymous said...

I second the Anonymous above, at least as far as the blog is concerned. Book please!

Anonymous said...

This is so creepy. It reminds me of a Terry Gilliam movie.

Victorya said...

I love it! It almost looks photoshopped it's so surreal.

Jack Ruttan said...

Real life is better than fiction. I'd like to see a movie of him chomping around, or delivering the "To be or not to be" soliloquy from "Hamlet."

That would be Terry Gilliam-esque.

Nebulous Grey said...

Haha, Booge, you're not alone with thoughts immediately going to the voice issuing outta a mouth like that...I was snorting over a whole array of possibilities. Some, admittedly, much more mature than others. *coughs*

"Cthulhu FOR PRESIDENT!"
Yes! *waves campaign flag happily*

Anonymous said...

I know at least two human males with similar smiles. I think there's been some grafting on the Tree of Life...

Anonymous said...

I think this is "Spontaneous Opera Singing" in action.

Nebulous Grey said...

BATS.
That's it! That's why it kinda creeped me out for a minute, like I couldn't remember something. I have a Prof who grins like this and it makes me want to punch him...I wish I had a photo of him to mess with on photoshop now.

Anonymous said...

It looks fake to me. =/

Arachnophile said...

Sorry to dissapoint you guys. Tree of Life is filled out by professionals and AVID nature-nerds so unless this was site-agreed upon april-fools-joke, then it's real! Check out the site. They have other pictures of the discerning characteristics of the species that have nothing to do with the 'mouth'.

Though, I have seen some pretty detailed jokes on other science sites so *shrug* could happen.