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.'"

Half squid, half octopus

[by Anonymous Coward]

All delicious!

Re:Half squid, half octopus

[Evanisincontrol (830057)]

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

Re:Half squid, half octopus

[Walt Dismal (534799)]

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

Re:Half squid, half octopus

[Thrip (994947)]

I hear that they are armed to the teeth.

Worse than that: they're toothed to the arm.

Taningia danae

[BWJones (18351)]

There have been 8 armed squid described before including the Taningia danae species [tolweb.org] 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 [slashdot.org]! 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 [utah.edu].

Re:Octosquid is here

[TheMeuge (645043)]

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

Re:Octosquid is here

[jollyreaper (513215)]

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.

Natural

[Joebert (946227)]

It all looks the same in the dark.

We need patent reform!

[Actually, I do RTFA (1058596)]

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

Stupid Name

[Seumas (6865)]

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.

Re:Stupid Name

[superpulpsicle (533373)]

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

Re:Stupid Name

[Harmonious Botch (921977)]

They should call it Cmdr Tako

Damnit

[Vulva R. Thompson, P (1060828)]

Kids left the gate open again.

But....

[rune2 (547599)]

Does it have frickin' lasers?

Woo! I love it!

[erroneus (253617)]

Inter-species tentacle porn!!!

Title is wrong

[ucblockhead (63650)]

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.

Oh, dear.

[The Ultimate Fartkno (756456)]

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.

Re:Oh, dear.

[by Anonymous Coward]

A deathly fear of squid and octopus?

Well, I hate to mention this, but if you're serious, don't look up Vampyroteuthis infernalis [wikipedia.org]. 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" [tolweb.org], 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).

Re:Oh, dear.

[The Ultimate Fartkno (756456)]

*thud*

Re:Oh, dear.

[MadMidnightBomber (894759)]

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

Re:Oh, dear.

[(arg!)Styopa (232550)]

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...)

Another photo

[FleaPlus (6935)]

Here's another article [hawaiitribune-herald.com] 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?

...and It's red because...

[by Anonymous Coward]

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.

8 arms???

[Pedrito (94783)]

...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).

I was really drunk in Hawaii a year ago...

[Octopus (19153)]

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

Oh shit.