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We’ll all pay for ignoring our rotten parliament
Ben Macintyre
For a century and a half, the Palace of Westminster has been left to the ravages of time, asbestos and rodents
The Houses of Parliament are falling down. Big Ben is to be silenced, after 157 years of almost unbroken chiming, for an urgent repair programme. These old houses are a-getting shaky, to adapt the words of our foremost architectural pop singer, Shakin’ Stevens, and needing a lot more than paint.
The roofs are leaking, the wiring is terrifyingly antiquated, the sewerage system cannot cope, and the 1930s boilers are clogged with limescale. The oldest of the 28 lifts dates back to 1893, and some are liable to sudden, shuddering breakdown. Parts of the building are infested with rodents, the masonry is crumbling, gutters are cracking, and the interiors are peeling and faded. The entire Palace of Westminster is a fire trap. Almost none of its 3,000 windows close properly.
As one recent report put it: “If the palace were not a listed building of the highest heritage value, its owner would probably be advised to demolish and rebuild.”
A cross-party committee is expected to recommend in the next few weeks that MPs relocate while essential renovation is carried out over six years. The original building cost more than £2 million to build — approximately £220 million in today’s money. Deloitte estimates that a complete restoration, carried out with the MPs in situ, would take 32 years and cost £5.7 billion.
Completed in 1870, the palace has endured through six monarchs and 26 governments, but now age and neglect have finally left it in danger of “catastrophic breakdown”.
Normally, when things go wrong in parliament, we hold an inquiry to establish who is responsible. So who can we blame for the shocking decay of the nation’s foremost public building?
In rough chronological order, the guilty parties are: the architect Charles Barry, the geologist William Logan, whose discoveries led to the first commercial asbestos mines, Adolf Hitler and the Luftwaffe, successive maintenance bodies that failed to fix the roof while the sun was shining, MPs taking shorter holidays, and the inhabitants of London for polluting the air of the capital.
We can start by pointing the finger at two Irish labourers, Joshua Cross and Patrick Furlong, whose job it was, in 1834, to burn the small wooden tally sticks then used as part of the Exchequer accounting process, in a furnace beneath the House of Lords. On October 16, a chimney fire started, which spread rapidly and largely destroyed the medieval royal palace.
Anston stone was porous, vulnerable to the pollution of sooty London
The competition to rebuild it was won by Barry, aided by Augustus Pugin. The result was a neo-Gothic masterpiece, but with hindsight Barry chose the wrong materials. In 1839, he toured Britain’s quarries with two geologists and a master stone-cutter before selecting Anston, a sand-coloured limestone from South Yorkshire, which was beautiful, available in large blocks suitable for elaborate carving, and cheap. But it was also quite porous and vulnerable to the pollution of sooty London; some stone was of doubtful quality. After just ten years, the signs of decay were visible; for the rest of the century the problem was studied by various committees and nothing was done about it.
Meanwhile Sir William Logan, the head of the Geological Survey of Canada, uncovered large deposits of white asbestos in the hills of Quebec. By the 1890s the mines were producing 10,000 tons a year. The first diagnosis of asbestosis was made in the UK in 1924, but for decades the material continued to be used in building as a fire retardant, insulator and lagging to reduce noise. The Palace of Westminster was stuffed with this poisonous fibre, around pipes and ducts, in walls and fire linings, and even in some parliamentary paint. Now it must all be stripped out.
During the Blitz, the palace was struck by no fewer than 14 bombs, destroying the Commons chamber, much of the cloisters and causing extensive damage. The rebuilding was a vital boost to national morale, but like much postwar reconstruction it was also hasty, and not always to the highest standards. What was Jerry-bombed ended up being jerry-built, and soon in need of further work.
There has been no general renovation since, even though the complex and elaborate architectural style of Barry and Pugin requires complex and elaborate (and frequent) restoration. The funds allocated for piecemeal repair in the latter half of the 20th century were simply not enough to keep pace with the wear and tear. The impact of under-investment in restoration was compounded by air pollution, what one investigating committee called the “pernicious London atmosphere”.
In recent years, politicians seeking approval for their work ethic have often called for MPs to take shorter holidays. Traditionally palace maintenance has been carried out in the summer months, but the length of the long recess has steadily shrunk, from 79 days three decades ago, to 48 days last year. That has meant more parliamentary work, but less time to fix spewing pipes and dodgy elevators.
Commentators hunting easy metaphors have seized on the dilapidation as an image of our decayed political life. But in reality, the disrepair reflects the arduous affection to which these buildings have been subjected for almost 150 years: we have crammed them with more and more wiring, pipework, legislators, officials and rooms, heaping an ever heavier burden on structures no longer fit for the purpose we ask of them.
The heavy and growing demands of democracy have pushed what is arguably Britain’s most famous building into a state of decrepitude; we have loved it almost to death, and we should therefore pay whatever it takes to bring it back to new life.
1/160th, f/3.5, 18mm, one Alien Bee to the left with umbrella, triggered by remote
Actually, the look on his face is pretty typical. Somewhere between "Ohmygod I'm terrified of the universe," and "Is there any chance I'm getting fed? Because food is very important to me." I intentionally chose this shot because of the slightly panicky look on his face, which is so, so a common look for him.
I am in the process of acquiring several hilarious pieces of pet-sized furniture - this little recliner was $5 the other day, and I took Ara on a craigslist based adventure to Washougal the other night to pick up a gorgeous little chair, and we witnessed a faux-dog-napping. Craigslist...weird stuff sometimes. (The dog, fyi, is fine, and I have the chair, so all is well.) I even have a hot pink fluffy chaise lounge begging for a fluffy kitty or a Chihuahua. Ridiculous, I tell you, in the best possible way!
I am also in the process of re-building my Nikon collection of lenses - as this is my first official post shot with my "new" Nikon D300. The lens is on loan from Ara, as I await delivery of my new 50mm 1.4, and work on getting myself either a 20mm 2.8 (used) or if I can swing it in the next couple of weeks, their 18-55 2.8, which even used is more than a first-born child. The new SB-900 is on the way, my new Lowepro is sitting at my front door (thank you, UPS!), and life is pretty grand. I still have to unload a big handful of SD cards, a Tamrac backpack, and a giant old Lowepro backpack that is the size of a VW bus, not to mention a Tamron lens (really nice!) and my old Nikon 24-120 I bought in 1999.
Ara is booking out the wedding season, and I shall be tagging along as ever, and I am *this close* to officially launching my venture in pet photography. Social networking, fyi, is the *bestest* thing EVER. When Wallace cost me a few thousand dollars back at New Year's with a four surgical procedures over three days, my facebook friends rallied and raised money for me. (Thank you cards are half written - I have excellent intentions and sometimes a terrible case of procrastination.) Social networking also helped me pick out my company name - an old friend I did theater with in high school who lives 3000 miles away gave the final suggestion, which needed a very, very minor tweak to work. Sadly, Patrick convinced me it's been five years since Dave died and I can't go around begging for help getting out of the debt he left me that I am still paying off. I digress...
I had so many incredible ideas - I really, really love Fabulous Bitches, but good luck advertising that anywhere where kids are present. I thought I would take it in a direction with a bit of a wink, along the lines of Chasing Tail, which is funny to adults and harmless for children...only the associated web domains? NSFW. In fact, not safe for anyone, anytime, anywhere. And if I am declaring it such, I recommend you think long and hard before you start punching names into your web browser. I thought of going with Irresistible Bitch and seeing if I could get Prince to shut me down, get some publicity. Unleashed. Pawparazzi. Frolic. All taken and would leave me with weird urls too easy to confuse.
The site is a little ways from being officially launched, but I am the happy owner of, you ready? RoverExposed.com It caused quite a giggling fit last night, and while it implies dogs in particular, I hope to get some exciting other critters in the studio - I have a real soft spot for guinea pigs, actually, and have friends who have a tortoise who weighs nearly as much as I do. I'm not walking away from my gig as a numismatic photographer, which has been a part of my life for a terrifyingly long time (and I have been in numismatics most of my life at this point), in fact, my boss is a big supporter of mine and was my first official client. But this should keep me busy, covered in pet hair and dog kisses, and happy as can be. I get to PLAY WITH ANIMALS. And take their picture. And meet awesome people. What? How cool is THAT?!
So, keep your eyes peeled, the site will launch sooner than later, and I cannot WAIT! I have a pretty excellent summer lined up with fantastic trips and events I can't even mention because you'll finagle your way into my suitcase, and I look forward to sharing tales of those adventures, as well as many more four legged friends with you all here on flickr!
Ohgodddd, today I had an amazing present. A flight in a 65 year old Harvard at my local aerodrome. The flight was 30mins and I got to flyyy! Terrifyingly but amazingly we also did acrobatics including a full roll! Wowww, words can't describe it, what a priviledge. And my thoughts often turned to the young men in the 1940's who trained for the war in that exact plane and never came home. Blog post is below...
The octopus (plural octopuses) is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (/ɒkˈtɒpədə/, ok-TO-pə-də). Around 300 species are recognised, and the order is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like other cephalopods, the octopus is bilaterally symmetric with two eyes and a beak, with its mouth at the center point of the eight limbs.[a] The soft body can rapidly alter its shape, enabling octopuses to squeeze through small gaps. They trail their eight appendages behind them as they swim. The siphon is used both for respiration and for locomotion, by expelling a jet of water. Octopuses have a complex nervous system and excellent sight, and are among the most intelligent and behaviourally diverse of all invertebrates.
Octopuses inhabit various regions of the ocean, including coral reefs, pelagic waters, and the seabed; some live in the intertidal zone and others at abyssal depths. Most species grow quickly, mature early, and are short-lived. In most species, the male uses a specially adapted arm to deliver a bundle of sperm directly into the female's mantle cavity, after which he becomes senescent and dies, while the female deposits fertilised eggs in a den and cares for them until they hatch, after which she also dies. Strategies to defend themselves against predators include the expulsion of ink, the use of camouflage and threat displays, the ability to jet quickly through the water and hide, and even deceit. All octopuses are venomous, but only the blue-ringed octopuses are known to be deadly to humans.
Octopuses appear in mythology as sea monsters like the Kraken of Norway and the Akkorokamui of the Ainu, and probably the Gorgon of ancient Greece. A battle with an octopus appears in Victor Hugo's book Toilers of the Sea, inspiring other works such as Ian Fleming's Octopussy. Octopuses appear in Japanese erotic art, shunga. They are eaten and considered a delicacy by humans in many parts of the world, especially the Mediterranean and the Asian seas.
ETYMOLOGY AND PLURALISATION
The scientific Latin term octopus was derived from Ancient Greek ὀκτώπους, a compound form of ὀκτώ (oktō, "eight") and πούς (pous, "foot"), itself a variant form of ὀκτάπους, a word used for example by Alexander of Tralles (c. 525–605) for the common octopus. The standard pluralised form of "octopus" in English is "octopuses"; the Ancient Greek plural ὀκτώποδες, "octopodes" (/ɒkˈtɒpədiːz/), has also been used historically. The alternative plural "octopi" is considered grammatically incorrect because it wrongly assumes that octopus is a Latin second declension "-us" noun or adjective when, in either Greek or Latin, it is a third declension noun.
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that the only acceptable plural in English is "octopuses", that "octopi" is misconceived, and "octopodes" pedantic; the latter is nonetheless used frequently enough to be acknowledged by the descriptivist Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary and Webster's New World College Dictionary. The Oxford English Dictionary lists "octopuses", "octopi", and "octopodes", in that order, reflecting frequency of use, calling "octopodes" rare and noting that "octopi" is based on a misunderstanding. The New Oxford American Dictionary (3rd Edition, 2010) lists "octopuses" as the only acceptable pluralisation, and indicates that "octopodes" is still occasionally used, but that "octopi" is incorrect.
ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY
SIZE
The giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) is often cited as the largest known octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg, with an arm span of up to 4.3 m. The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg. Much larger sizes have been claimed for the giant Pacific octopus: one specimen was recorded as 272 kg with an arm span of 9 m. A carcass of the seven-arm octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, weighed 61 kg and was estimated to have had a live mass of 75 kg. The smallest species is Octopus wolfi, which is around 2.5 cm and weighs less than 1 g.
EXTERNAL CHARACTERISTICS
The octopus is bilaterally symmetrical along its dorso-ventral axis; the head and foot are at one end of an elongated body and function as the anterior (front) of the animal. The head includes the mouth and brain. The foot has evolved into a set of flexible, prehensile appendages, known as "arms", that surround the mouth and are attached to each other near their base by a webbed structure. The arms can be described based on side and sequence position (such as L1, R1, L2, R2) and divided into four pairs. The two rear appendages are generally used to walk on the sea floor, while the other six are used to forage for food; hence some biologists refer to the animals as having six "arms" and two "legs". The bulbous and hollow mantle is fused to the back of the head and is known as the visceral hump; it contains most of the vital organs. The mantle cavity has muscular walls and contains the gills; it is connected to the exterior by a funnel or siphon. The mouth of an octopus, located underneath the arms, has a sharp hard beak.
The skin consists of a thin outer epidermis with mucous cells and sensory cells, and a connective tissue dermis consisting largely of collagen fibres and various cells allowing colour change. Most of the body is made of soft tissue allowing it to lengthen, contract, and contort itself. The octopus can squeeze through tiny gaps; even the larger species can pass through an opening close to 2.5 cm in diameter. Lacking skeletal support, the arms work as muscular hydrostats and contain longitudinal, transverse and circular muscles around a central axial nerve. They can extend and contract, twist to left or right, bend at any place in any direction or be held rigid.
The interior surfaces of the arms are covered with circular, adhesive suckers. The suckers allow the octopus to anchor itself or to manipulate objects. Each sucker is usually circular and bowl-like and has two distinct parts: an outer shallow cavity called an infundibulum and a central hollow cavity called an acetabulum, both of which are thick muscles covered in a protective chitinous cuticle. When a sucker attaches to a surface, the orifice between the two structures is sealed. The infundibulum provides adhesion while the acetabulum remains free, and muscle contractions allow for attachment and detachment.
The eyes of the octopus are large and are at the top of the head. They are similar in structure to those of a fish and are enclosed in a cartilaginous capsule fused to the cranium. The cornea is formed from a translucent epidermal layer and the slit-shaped pupil forms a hole in the iris and lies just behind. The lens is suspended behind the pupil and photoreceptive retinal cells cover the back of the eye. The pupil can be adjusted in size and a retinal pigment screens incident light in bright conditions.Some species differ in form from the typical octopus body shape. Basal species, the Cirrina, have stout gelatinous bodies with webbing that reaches near the tip of their arms, and two large fins above the eyes, supported by an internal shell. Fleshy papillae or cirri are found along the bottom of the arms, and the eyes are more developed.
CIRCULATORY SYSTEM
Octopuses have a closed circulatory system, in which the blood remains inside blood vessels. Octopuses have three hearts; a systemic heart that circulates blood around the body and two branchial hearts that pump it through each of the two gills. The systemic heart is inactive when the animal is swimming and thus it tires quickly and prefers to crawl. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein haemocyanin to transport oxygen. This makes the blood very viscous and it requires considerable pressure to pump it around the body; octopuses' blood pressures can exceed 75 mmHg. In cold conditions with low oxygen levels, haemocyanin transports oxygen more efficiently than haemoglobin. The haemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within blood cells, and gives the blood a bluish colour.
The systemic heart has muscular contractile walls and consists of a single ventricle and two atria, one for each side of the body. The blood vessels consist of arteries, capillaries and veins and are lined with a cellular endothelium which is quite unlike that of most other invertebrates. The blood circulates through the aorta and capillary system, to the vena cavae, after which the blood is pumped through the gills by the auxiliary hearts and back to the main heart. Much of the venous system is contractile, which helps circulate the blood.
RESPIRATION
Respiration involves drawing water into the mantle cavity through an aperture, passing it through the gills, and expelling it through the siphon. The ingress of water is achieved by contraction of radial muscles in the mantle wall, and flapper valves shut when strong circular muscles force the water out through the siphon. Extensive connective tissue lattices support the respiratory muscles and allow them to expand the respiratory chamber. The lamella structure of the gills allows for a high oxygen uptake, up to 65% in water at 20 °C. Water flow over the gills correlates with locomotion, and an octopus can propel its body when it expels water out of its siphon.
The thin skin of the octopus absorbs additional oxygen. When resting, around 41% of an octopus's oxygen absorption is through the skin. This decreases to 33% when it swims, as more water flows over the gills; skin oxygen uptake also increases. When it is resting after a meal, absorption through the skin can drop to 3% of its total oxygen uptake.
DIGESTION AND EXCRETION
The digestive system of the octopus begins with the buccal mass which consists of the mouth with its chitinous beak, the pharynx, radula and salivary glands. The radula is a spiked, muscular tongue-like organ with multiple rows of tiny teeth. Food is broken down and is forced into the oesophagus by two lateral extensions of the esophageal side walls in addition to the radula. From there it is transferred to the gastrointestinal tract, which is mostly suspended from the roof of the mantle cavity by numerous membranes. The tract consists of a crop, where the food is stored; a stomach, where food is ground down; a caecum where the now sludgy food is sorted into fluids and particles and which plays an important role in absorption; the digestive gland, where liver cells break down and absorb the fluid and become "brown bodies"; and the intestine, where the accumulated waste is turned into faecal ropes by secretions and blown out of the funnel via the rectum.
During osmoregulation, fluid is added to the pericardia of the branchial hearts. The octopus has two nephridia (equivalent to vertebrate kidneys) which are associated with the branchial hearts; these and their associated ducts connect the pericardial cavities with the mantle cavity. Before reaching the branchial heart, each branch of the vena cava expands to form renal appendages which are in direct contact with the thin-walled nephridium. The urine is first formed in the pericardial cavity, and is modified by excretion, chiefly of ammonia, and selective absorption from the renal appendages, as it is passed along the associated duct and through the nephridiopore into the mantle cavity.
NERVOUS SYSTEM AND SENSES
The octopus (along with cuttlefish) has the highest brain-to-body mass ratios of all invertebrates; it is also greater than that of many vertebrates. It has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localised in its brain, which is contained in a cartilaginous capsule. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which show a variety of complex reflex actions that persist even when they have no input from the brain. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses are not organised in their brain via an internal somatotopic map of its body, instead using a nonsomatotopic system unique to large-brained invertebrates.
Like other cephalopods, octopuses can distinguish the polarisation of light. Colour vision appears to vary from species to species, for example being present in O. aegina but absent in O. vulgaris. Researchers believe that opsins in the skin can sense different wavelengths of light and help the creatures choose a coloration that camouflages them, in addition to light input from the eyes. Other researchers hypothesise that cephalopod eyes in species which only have a single photoreceptor protein may use chromatic aberration to turn monochromatic vision into colour vision, though this sacrifices image quality. This would explain pupils shaped like the letter U, the letter W, or a dumbbell, as well as explaining the need for colourful mating displays.
Attached to the brain are two special organs called statocysts (sac-like structures containing a mineralised mass and sensitive hairs), that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body. They provide information on the position of the body relative to gravity and can detect angular acceleration. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil is always horizontal. Octopuses may also use the statocyst to hear sound. The common octopus can hear sounds between 400 Hz and 1000 Hz, and hears best at 600 Hz.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. The octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so the octopus can taste what it touches. Octopus arms do not become tangled or stuck to each other because the sensors recognise octopus skin and prevent self-attachment.
The arms contain tension sensors so the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out, but this is not sufficient for the brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. The neurological autonomy of the arms means the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. It has a poor proprioceptive sense, and it knows what exact motions were made only by observing the arms visually.
Ink sac
The ink sac of an octopus is located under the digestive gland. A gland attached to the sac produces the ink, and the sac stores it. The sac is close enough to the funnel for the octopus to shoot out the ink with a water jet. Before it leaves the funnel, the ink passes through glands which mix it with mucus, creating a thick, dark blob which allows the animal to escape from a predator. The main pigment in the ink is melanin, which gives it its black colour. Cirrate octopuses lack the ink sac.
LIFECYCLE
REPRODUCTION
Octopuses are gonochoric and have a single, posteriorly-located gonad which is associated with the coelom. The testis in males and the ovary in females bulges into the gonocoel and the gametes are released here. The gonocoel is connected by the gonoduct to the mantle cavity, which it enters at the gonopore. An optic gland creates hormones that cause the octopus to mature and age and stimulate gamete production. The gland may be triggered by environmental conditions such as temperature, light and nutrition, which thus control the timing of reproduction and lifespan.
When octopuses reproduce, the male uses a specialised arm called a hectocotylus to transfer spermatophores (packets of sperm) from the terminal organ of the reproductive tract (the cephalopod "penis") into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm, which has a spoon-shaped depression and modified suckers near the tip. In most species, fertilisation occurs in the mantle cavity.
The reproduction of octopuses has been studied in only a few species. One such species is the giant Pacific octopus, in which courtship is accompanied, especially in the male, by changes in skin texture and colour. The male may cling to the top or side of the female or position himself beside her. There is some speculation that he may first use his hectocotylus to remove any spermatophore or sperm already present in the female. He picks up a spermatophore from his spermatophoric sac with the hectocotylus, inserts it into the female's mantle cavity, and deposits it in the correct location for the species, which in the giant Pacific octopus is the opening of the oviduct. Two spermatophores are transferred in this way; these are about one metre (yard) long, and the empty ends may protrude from the female's mantle. A complex hydraulic mechanism releases the sperm from the spermatophore, and it is stored internally by the female.
About forty days after mating, the female giant Pacific octopus attaches strings of small fertilised eggs (10,000 to 70,000 in total) to rocks in a crevice or under an overhang. Here she guards and cares for them for about five months (160 days) until they hatch. In colder waters, such as those off of Alaska, it may take as much as 10 months for the eggs to completely develop. The female aerates the eggs and keeps them clean; if left untended, many eggs will not hatch. She does not feed during this time and dies soon afterwards. Males become senescent and die a few weeks after mating.
The eggs have large yolks; cleavage (division) is superficial and a germinal disc develops at the pole. During gastrulation, the margins of this grow down and surround the yolk, forming a yolk sac, which eventually forms part of the gut. The dorsal side of the disc grows upwards and forms the embryo, with a shell gland on its dorsal surface, gills, mantle and eyes. The arms and funnel develop as part of the foot on the ventral side of the disc. The arms later migrate upwards, coming to form a ring around the funnel and mouth. The yolk is gradually absorbed as the embryo develops.
Most young octopuses hatch as paralarvae and are planktonic for weeks to months, depending on the species and water temperature. They feed on copepods, arthropod larvae and other zooplankton, eventually settling on the ocean floor and developing directly into adults with no distinct metamorphoses that are present in other groups of mollusc larvae. Octopus species that produce larger eggs – including the southern blue-ringed, Caribbean reef, California two-spot, Eledone moschata and deep sea octopuses – do not have a paralarval stage, but hatch as benthic animals similar to the adults.In the argonaut (paper nautilus), the female secretes a fine, fluted, papery shell in which the eggs are deposited and in which she also resides while floating in mid-ocean. In this she broods the young, and it also serves as a buoyancy aid allowing her to adjust her depth. The male argonaut is minute by comparison and has no shell.
LIFESPAN
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy; some species live for as little as six months. The giant Pacific octopus, one of the two largest species of octopus, may live for as much as five years. Octopus lifespan is limited by reproduction: males can live for only a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. The larger Pacific striped octopus is an exception, as it can reproduce multiple times over a life of around two years. Octopus reproductive organs mature due to the hormonal influence of the optic gland but result in the inactivation of their digestive glands, typically causing the octopus to die from starvation. Experimental removal of both optic glands after spawning was found to result in the cessation of broodiness, the resumption of feeding, increased growth, and greatly extended lifespans. It has been proposed that the naturally short lifespan may be functional to prevent rapid overpopulation.
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
Octopuses live in every ocean, and different species have adapted to different marine habitats. As juveniles, common octopuses inhabit shallow tide pools. The Hawaiian day octopus (Octopus cyanea) lives on coral reefs; argonauts drift in pelagic waters. Abdopus aculeatus mostly lives in near-shore seagrass beds. Some species are adapted to the cold, ocean depths. The spoon-armed octopus (Bathypolypus arcticus) is found at depths of 1,000 m, and Vulcanoctopus hydrothermalis lives near hydrothermal vents at 2,000 m. The cirrate species are often free-swimming and live in deep-water habitats. Although several species are known to live at bathyal and abyssal depths, there is only a single indisputable record of an octopus in the hadal zone; a species of Grimpoteuthis (dumbo octopus) photographed at 6,957 m. No species are known to live in fresh water.
BEHAVIOUR AND ECOLOGY
Most species are solitary when not mating, though a few are known to occur in high densities and with frequent interactions, signaling, mate defending and eviction of individuals from dens. This is likely the result of abundant food supplies combined with limited den sites. The larger Pacific striped octopus however is social, living in groups of up to 40 individuals that share dens. Octopuses hide in dens, which are typically crevices in rocky outcrops or other hard structures, though some species burrow into sand or mud. Octopuses are not territorial but generally remain in a home range; they may leave the area in search of food. They can use navigation skills to return to a den without having to retrace their outward route. They are not known to be migratory.
Octopuses bring captured prey back to the den where they can eat it safely. Sometimes the octopus catches more prey than it can eat, and the den is often surrounded by a midden of dead and uneaten food items. Other creatures, such as fish, crabs, molluscs and echinoderms, often share the den with the octopus, either because they have arrived as scavengers, or because they have survived capture. Octopuses rarely engage in interspecific cooperative hunting with fish as their partners. They regulate the species composition of the hunting group - and the behavior of their partners - by punching them.
FEEDING
Nearly all octopuses are predatory; bottom-dwelling octopuses eat mainly crustaceans, polychaete worms, and other molluscs such as whelks and clams; open-ocean octopuses eat mainly prawns, fish and other cephalopods. Major items in the diet of the giant Pacific octopus include bivalve molluscs such as the cockle Clinocardium nuttallii, clams and scallops and crustaceans such as crabs and spider crabs. Prey that it is likely to reject include moon snails because they are too large and limpets, rock scallops, chitons and abalone, because they are too securely fixed to the rock.
A benthic (bottom-dwelling) octopus typically moves among the rocks and feels through the crevices. The creature may make a jet-propelled pounce on prey and pull it towards the mouth with its arms, the suckers restraining it. Small prey may be completely trapped by the webbed structure. Octopuses usually inject crustaceans like crabs with a paralysing saliva then dismember them with their beaks. Octopuses feed on shelled molluscs either by forcing the valves apart, or by drilling a hole in the shell to inject a nerve toxin. It used to be thought that the hole was drilled by the radula, but it has now been shown that minute teeth at the tip of the salivary papilla are involved, and an enzyme in the toxic saliva is used to dissolve the calcium carbonate of the shell. It takes about three hours for O. vulgaris to create a 0.6 mm hole. Once the shell is penetrated, the prey dies almost instantaneously, its muscles relax, and the soft tissues are easy for the octopus to remove. Crabs may also be treated in this way; tough-shelled species are more likely to be drilled, and soft-shelled crabs are torn apart.
Some species have other modes of feeding. Grimpoteuthis has a reduced or non-existent radula and swallows prey whole. In the deep-sea genus Stauroteuthis, some of the muscle cells that control the suckers in most species have been replaced with photophores which are believed to fool prey by directing them towards the mouth, making them one of the few bioluminescent octopuses.
LOCOMOTION
Octopuses mainly move about by relatively slow crawling with some swimming in a head-first position. Jet propulsion or backwards swimming, is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and crawling. When in no hurry, they usually crawl on either solid or soft surfaces. Several arms are extended forwards, some of the suckers adhere to the substrate and the animal hauls itself forwards with its powerful arm muscles, while other arms may push rather than pull. As progress is made, other arms move ahead to repeat these actions and the original suckers detach. During crawling, the heart rate nearly doubles, and the animal requires ten or fifteen minutes to recover from relatively minor exercise.
Most octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from the mantle through the siphon into the sea. The physical principle behind this is that the force required to accelerate the water through the orifice produces a reaction that propels the octopus in the opposite direction. The direction of travel depends on the orientation of the siphon. When swimming, the head is at the front and the siphon is pointed backwards, but when jetting, the visceral hump leads, the siphon points towards the head and the arms trail behind, with the animal presenting a fusiform appearance. In an alternative method of swimming, some species flatten themselves dorso-ventrally, and swim with the arms held out sideways, and this may provide lift and be faster than normal swimming. Jetting is used to escape from danger, but is physiologically inefficient, requiring a mantle pressure so high as to stop the heart from beating, resulting in a progressive oxygen deficit.
Cirrate octopuses cannot produce jet propulsion and rely on their fins for swimming. They have neutral buoyancy and drift through the water with the fins extended. They can also contract their arms and surrounding web to make sudden moves known as "take-offs". Another form of locomotion is "pumping", which involves symmetrical contractions of muscles in their webs producing peristaltic waves. This moves the body slowly.
In 2005, Adopus aculeatus and veined octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) were found to walk on two arms, while at the same time mimicking plant matter. This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator without being recognised. A study of this behaviour led to the suggestion that the two rearmost appendages may be more accurately termed "legs" rather than "arms". Some species of octopus can crawl out of the water briefly, which they may do between tide pools while hunting crustaceans or gastropods or to escape predators. "Stilt walking" is used by the veined octopus when carrying stacked coconut shells. The octopus carries the shells underneath it with two arms, and progresses with an ungainly gait supported by its remaining arms held rigid.
INTELLIGENCE
Octopuses are highly intelligent; the extent of their intelligence and learning capability are not well defined. Maze and problem-solving experiments have shown evidence of a memory system that can store both short- and long-term memory. It is not known precisely what contribution learning makes to adult octopus behaviour. Young octopuses learn nothing from their parents, as adults provide no parental care beyond tending to their eggs until the young octopuses hatch.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practise observational learning, although the validity of these findings is contested. Octopuses have also been observed in what has been described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs. The veined octopus collects discarded coconut shells, then uses them to build a shelter, an example of tool use.
CAMOUFLAGE AND COLOUR CHANGE
Octopuses use camouflage when hunting and to avoid predators. To do this they use specialised skin cells which change the appearance of the skin by adjusting its colour, opacity, or reflectivity. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colours, while some have two or four. Other colour-changing cells are reflective iridophores and white leucophores. This colour-changing ability is also used to communicate with or warn other octopuses.
Octopuses can create distracting patterns with waves of dark coloration across the body, a display known as the "passing cloud". Muscles in the skin change the texture of the mantle to achieve greater camouflage. In some species, the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of algae; in others, skin anatomy is limited to relatively uniform shades of one colour with limited skin texture. Octopuses that are diurnal and live in shallow water have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and deep-sea counterparts.
A "moving rock" trick involves the octopus mimicking a rock and then inching across the open space with a speed matching the movement in the surrounding water, allowing it to move in plain sight of a predator.
DEFENCE
Aside from humans, octopuses may be preyed on by fishes, seabirds, sea otters, pinnipeds, cetaceans, and other cephalopods. Octopuses typically hide or disguise themselves by camouflage and mimicry; some have conspicuous warning coloration (aposematism) or deimatic behaviour. An octopus may spend 40% of its time hidden away in its den. When the octopus is approached, it may extend an arm to investigate. 66% of Enteroctopus dofleini in one study had scars, with 50% having amputated arms. The blue rings of the highly venomous blue-ringed octopus are hidden in muscular skin folds which contract when the animal is threatened, exposing the iridescent warning. The Atlantic white-spotted octopus (Callistoctopus macropus) turns bright brownish red with oval white spots all over in a high contrast display. Displays are often reinforced by stretching out the animal's arms, fins or web to make it look as big and threatening as possible.
Once they have been seen by a predator, they commonly try to escape but can also use distraction with an ink cloud ejected from the ink sac. The ink is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might act as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a manner similar to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm may distract would-be predators. Such severed arms remain sensitive to stimuli and move away from unpleasant sensations. Octopuses can replace lost limbs.
Some octopuses, such as the mimic octopus, can combine their highly flexible bodies with their colour-changing ability to mimic other, more dangerous animals, such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels.
PATHOGENS AND PARASITES
The diseases and parasites that affect octopuses have been little studied, but cephalopods are known to be the intermediate or final hosts of various parasitic cestodes, nematodes and copepods; 150 species of protistan and metazoan parasites have been recognised. The Dicyemidae are a family of tiny worms that are found in the renal appendages of many species; it is unclear whether they are parasitic or are endosymbionts. Coccidians in the genus Aggregata living in the gut cause severe disease to the host. Octopuses have an innate immune system, and the haemocytes respond to infection by phagocytosis, encapsulation, infiltration or cytotoxic activities to destroy or isolate the pathogens. The haemocytes play an important role in the recognition and elimination of foreign bodies and wound repair. Captive animals have been found to be more susceptible to pathogens than wild ones. A gram-negative bacterium, Vibrio lentus, has been found to cause skin lesions, exposure of muscle and death of octopuses in extreme cases.
EVOLUTION
The scientific name Octopoda was first coined and given as the order of octopuses in 1818 by English biologist William Elford Leach, who classified them as Octopoida the previous year. The Octopoda consists of around 300 known species and were historically divided into two suborders, the Incirrina and the Cirrina. However, more recent evidence suggests that Cirrina are merely the most basal species and are not a unique clade. The incirrate octopuses (the majority of species) lack the cirri and paired swimming fins of the cirrates. In addition, the internal shell of incirrates is either present as a pair of stylets or absent altogether.
FOSSIL HISTORY AND PHYLOGENY
Cephalopods have existed for 500 million years and octopus ancestors were in the Carboniferous seas 300 million years ago. The oldest known octopus fossil is Pohlsepia, which lived 296 million years ago. Researchers have identified impressions of eight arms, two eyes, and possibly an ink sac. Octopuses are mostly soft tissue, and so fossils are relatively rare. Octopuses, squids and cuttlefish belong to the clade Coleoidea. They are known as "soft-bodied" cephalopods, lacking the external shell of most molluscs and other cephalopods like the nautiloids and the extinct Ammonoidea. Octopuses have eight limbs like other coleoids but lack the extra specialised feeding appendages known as tentacles which are longer and thinner with suckers only at their club-like ends. The vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis) also lacks tentacles but has sensory filaments.
The cladograms are based on Sanchez et al., 2018, who created a molecular phylogeny based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA marker sequences.
RNA EDITING
Octopuses and other coleoid cephalopods are capable of greater RNA editing (which involves changes to the nucleic acid sequence of the primary transcript of RNA molecules) than any other organisms. Editing is concentrated in the nervous system and affects proteins involved in neural excitability and neuronal morphology. More than 60% of RNA transcripts for coleoid brains are recoded by editing, compared to less than 1% for a human or fruit fly. Coleoids rely mostly on ADAR enzymes for RNA editing, which requires large double-stranded RNA structures to flank the editing sites. Both the structures and editing sites are conserved in the coleoid genome and the mutation rates for the sites are severely hampered. Hence, greater transcriptome plasticity has come at the cost of slower genome evolution. High levels of RNA editing do not appear to be present in more basal cephalopods or other molluscs.
RELATIONSHIP TO HUMANS
CULTURAL REFERENCES
Ancient seafaring people were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos (1900–1100 BC) has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. The terrifyingly powerful Gorgon of Greek mythology has been thought to have been inspired by the octopus or squid, the octopus itself representing the severed head of Medusa, the beak as the protruding tongue and fangs, and its tentacles as the snakes. The Kraken are legendary sea monsters of giant proportions said to dwell off the coasts of Norway and Greenland, usually portrayed in art as a giant octopus attacking ships. Linnaeus included it in the first edition of his 1735 Systema Naturae. One translation of the Hawaiian creation myth the Kumulipo suggests that the octopus is the lone survivor of a previous age. The Akkorokamui is a gigantic octopus-like monster from Ainu folklore.
A battle with an octopus plays a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea), relating to his time in exile on Guernsey. Ian Fleming's 1966 short story collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights, and the 1983 James Bond film were partly inspired by Hugo's book.
Japanese erotic art, shunga, includes ukiyo-e woodblock prints such as Katsushika Hokusai's 1814 print Tako to ama (The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife), in which an ama diver is sexually intertwined with a large and a small octopus. The print is a forerunner of tentacle erotica. The biologist P. Z. Myers noted in his science blog, Pharyngula, that octopuses appear in "extraordinary" graphic illustrations involving women, tentacles, and bare breasts.
Since it has numerous arms emanating from a common centre, the octopus is often used as a symbol for a powerful and manipulative organisation, company, or country.
DANGER
Octopuses generally avoid humans, but incidents have been verified. For example, a 2.4-metre Pacific octopus, said to be nearly perfectly camouflaged, "lunged" at a diver and "wrangled" over his camera before it let go. Another diver recorded the encounter on video.
All species are venomous, but only blue-ringed octopuses have venom that is lethal to humans. Bites are reported each year across the animals' range from Australia to the eastern Indo-Pacific Ocean. They bite only when provoked or accidentally stepped upon; bites are small and usually painless. The venom appears to be able to penetrate the skin without a puncture, given prolonged contact. It contains tetrodotoxin, which causes paralysis by blocking the transmission of nerve impulses to the muscles. This causes death by respiratory failure leading to cerebral anoxia. No antidote is known, but if breathing can be kept going artificially, patients recover within 24 hours. Bites have been recorded from captive octopuses of other species; they leave swellings which disappear in a day or two.
FISHERIES AND CUISINE
Octopus fisheries exist around the world with total catches varying between 245,320 and 322,999 metric tons from 1986 to 1995. The world catch peaked in 2007 at 380,000 tons, and fell by a tenth by 2012. Methods to capture octopuses include pots, traps, trawls, snares, drift fishing, spearing, hooking and hand collection. Octopus is eaten in many cultures and is a common food on the Mediterranean and Asian coasts. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species or geography. Live octopuses are eaten in several countries around the world, including the US. Animal welfare groups have objected to this practice on the basis that octopuses can experience pain. Octopuses have a food conversion efficiency greater than that of chickens, making octopus aquaculture a possibility.
IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
In classical Greece, Aristotle (384–322 BC) commented on the colour-changing abilities of the octopus, both for camouflage and for signalling, in his Historia animalium: "The octopus ... seeks its prey by so changing its colour as to render it like the colour of the stones adjacent to it; it does so also when alarmed." Aristotle noted that the octopus had a hectocotyl arm and suggested it might be used in sexual reproduction. This claim was widely disbelieved until the 19th century. It was described in 1829 by the French zoologist Georges Cuvier, who supposed it to be a parasitic worm, naming it as a new species, Hectocotylus octopodis. Other zoologists thought it a spermatophore; the German zoologist Heinrich Müller believed it was "designed" to detach during copulation. In 1856 the Danish zoologist Japetus Steenstrup demonstrated that it is used to transfer sperm, and only rarely detaches.
Octopuses offer many possibilities in biological research, including their ability to regenerate limbs, change the colour of their skin, behave intelligently with a distributed nervous system, and make use of 168 kinds of protocadherins (humans have 58), the proteins that guide the connections neurons make with each other. The California two-spot octopus has had its genome sequenced, allowing exploration of its molecular adaptations. Having independently evolved mammal-like intelligence, octopuses have been compared to hypothetical intelligent extraterrestrials. Their problem-solving skills, along with their mobility and lack of rigid structure enable them to escape from supposedly secure tanks in laboratories and public aquariums.
Due to their intelligence, octopuses are listed in some countries as experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia, a protection usually extended only to vertebrates. In the UK from 1993 to 2012, the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) was the only invertebrate protected under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. In 2012, this legislation was extended to include all cephalopods in accordance with a general EU directive.
Some robotics research is exploring biomimicry of octopus features. Octopus arms can move and sense largely autonomously without intervention from the animal's central nervous system. In 2015 a team in Italy built soft-bodied robots able to crawl and swim, requiring only minimal computation. In 2017 a German company made an arm with a soft pneumatically controlled silicone gripper fitted with two rows of suckers. It is able to grasp objects such as a metal tube, a magazine, or a ball, and to fill a glass by pouring water from a bottle.
WIKIPEDIA
This unique area on the west side of Maui resembles something from another planet. An example of the amazing ancient volcanic forces at work, the area was aptly named Dragon's Teeth because the rock structures look like large, terrifyingly jagged teeth. Located in Kapalua adjacent to the Ritz Carlton Hotel and sprawling golf course, Dragon's Teeth is a sacred spot that was an ancient burial ground. Visitors are asked to respect the area while enjoying the natural beauty.
AT A GLANCE:
During the time period of ancient Hawaii when the Maui Volcano was active, molten lava from the volcano flowed freely into the ocean where it was pushed back by strong ocean currents and winds. After being forced back ashore, it cooled into the stunning formations of Dragon's Teeth (also called Makaluapuna Point.) This was one of the last lava flows on the island, adding to the uniqueness of the sight. The frequent spray of salt water over the rocks over the years has bleached the color of the lava, so the originally black "dragon's teeth" are now white.
There is a small parking lot at the end of Lower Honoapiilani Rd. Visitors can park here, and then walk along the edge of the golf course toward the ocean. Be sure to stay to the right of the signs separating the narrow walkway from the golf course.
Just a short drive from most of West Maui's resorts, Dragon's Teeth is a beautiful place to watch the sun rise or set. Sea turtles can often be spotted as they swim up around the rocks.
Para ver en grande y encontrar las cosas. Large view.
Con esta foto os propongo un juego...encontrar una serie de cosas en la foto. Las cosas a encontrar son: 3 arañas, un murcielago colgado, un gato, dos fantasmas (no humanos), una de las máscaras de SAW, la máscara de Scream, una señora fuera de lugar, una calavera y una serie de personajes de pesadilla después de navidad. Cuando encontreis alguna de estas cosas poner una nota dónde estén en la foto.
Ya lo se, es una tontada, pero a lo mejor así pasas un poco el rato, que es de lo que se trata.
La foto es del Alcázar de Segovia, en una versión algo más terroríiiiiiifica.
Kathmandu Durbar Square (Nepali: वसन्तपुर दरवार क्षेत्र, Basantapur Darbar Kshetra) in front of the old royal palace of the former Kathmandu Kingdom is one of three Durbar (royal palace) Squares in the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, all of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Several buildings in the Square collapsed due to a major earthquake on 25 April 2015. Durbar Square was surrounded with spectacular architecture and vividly showcases the skills of the Newar artists and craftsmen over several centuries. The Royal Palace was originally at Dattaraya square and was later moved to the Durbar square.
The Kathmandu Durbar Square held the palaces of the Malla and Shah kings who ruled over the city. Along with these palaces, the square surrounds quadrangles, revealing courtyards and temples. It is known as Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square, a name derived from a statue of Hanuman, the monkey devotee of Lord Ram, at the entrance of the palace.
CONTENTS
HISTORY AND CONSTRUCTION
The preference for the construction of royal palaces at this site dates back to as early as the Licchavi period in the third century. Even though the present palaces and temples have undergone repeated and extensive renovations and nothing physical remains from that period. Names like Gunapo and Gupo, which are the names referred to the palaces in the square in early scriptures, imply that the palaces were built by Gunakamadev, a King ruling late in the tenth-century. When Kathmandu City became independent under the rule of King Ratna Malla (1484–1520), the palaces in the square became the Royal Palaces for its Malla Kings. When Prithvi Narayan Shah invaded the Kathmandu Valley in 1769, he favored the Kathmandu Durbar Square for his palace. Other subsequent Shah kings continued to rule from the square until 1896 when they moved to the Narayan Hiti Palace.
The square is still the center of important royal events like the coronation of King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah in 1975 and King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah in 2001.
Though there are no written archives stating the history of Kathmandu Durbar Square, construction of the palace in the square is credited to Sankharadev (1069–1083). As the first king of the independent Kathmandu City, Ratna Malla is said to have built the Taleju temple in the Northern side of the palace in 1501. For this to be true then the temple would have had to have been built in the vihara style as part of the palace premise surrounding the Mul Chok courtyard for no evidence of a separate structure that would match this temple can be found within the square.
Construction of the Karnel Chok is not clearly stated in any historical inscriptions; although, it is probably the oldest among all the courtyards in the square. The Bhagavati Temple, originally known as a Narayan Temple, rises above the mansions surrounding it and was added during the time of Jagajaya Malla in the early eighteenth century. The Narayan idol within the temple was stolen so Prithvi Narayan Shah replaced it with an image of Bhagavati, completely transforming the name of the temple.
The oldest temples in the square are those built by Mahendra Malla (1560–1574). They are the temples of Jagannath, Kotilingeswara Mahadev, Mahendreswara, and the Taleju Temple. This three-roofed Taleju Temple was established in 1564, in a typical Newari architectural style and is elevated on platforms that form a pyramid-like structure. It is said that Mahendra Malla, when he was residing in Bhaktapur, was highly devoted to the Taleju Temple there; the Goddess being pleased with his devotion gave him a vision asking him to build a temple for her in the Kathmandu Durbar Square. With a help of a hermit, he designed the temple to give it its present form and the Goddess entered the temple in the form of a bee.
His successors Sadasiva (1575–1581), his son, Shiva Simha (1578–1619), and his grandson, Laksmi Narsingha (1619–1641), do not seem to have made any major additions to the square. During this period of three generations the only constructions to have occurred were the establishment of Degutale Temple dedicated to Goddess Mother Taleju by Shiva Simha and some enhancement in the royal palace by Laksminar Simha.
UNDER PRATAP MALLA
In the time of Pratap Malla, son of Laksminar Simha, the square was extensively developed. He was an intellectual, a pious devotee, and especially interested in arts. He called himself a Kavindra, king of poets, and boasted that he was learned in fifteen different languages. A passionate builder, following his coronation as a king, he immediately began enlargements to his royal palace, and rebuilt some old temples and constructed new temples, shrines and stupas around his kingdom.During the construction of his palace, he added a small entrance in the traditional, low and narrow Newari style. The door was elaborately decorated with carvings and paintings of deities and auspicious sings and was later transferred to the entrance of Mohan Chok. In front of the entrance he placed the statue of Hanuman thinking that Hanuman would strengthen his army and protect his home. The entrance leads to Nasal Chok, the courtyard where most royal events such as coronation, performances, and yagyas, holy fire rituals, take place. It was named after Nasadya, the God of Dance, and during the time of Pratap Malla the sacred mask dance dramas performed in Nasal Chok were widely famed. In one of these dramas, it is said that Pratap Malla himself played the role of Lord Vishnu and that the spirit of the Lord remained in the king's body even after the play. After consulting his Tantric leaders, he ordered a stone image of Lord Vishnu in his incarnation as Nara Simha, the half-lion and half-human form, and then transferred the spirit into the stone. This fine image of Nara Simha made in 1673 still stands in the Nasal Chok. In 1650, he commissioned for the construction of Mohan Chok in the palace. This chok remained the royal residential courtyard for many years and is believed to store a great amount of treasure under its surface. Pratap Malla also built Sundari Chok about this time. He placed a slab engraved with lines in fifteen languages and proclaimed that he who can understand the inscription would produce the flow of milk instead of water from Tutedhara, a fountain set in the outer walls of Mohan Chok. However elaborate his constructions may have been, they were not simply intended to emphasize his luxuries but also his and the importance of others' devotion towards deities. He made extensive donations to temples and had the older ones renovated. Next to the palace, he built a Krishna temple, the Vamsagopala, in an octagonal shape in 1649. He dedicated this temple to his two Indian wives, Rupamati and Rajamati, as both had died during the year it was built. In Mohan Chok, he erected a three roofed Agamachem temple and a unique temple with five superimposing roofs. After completely restoring the Mul Chok, he donated to the adjoining Taleju Temple. To the main temple of Taleju, he donated metal doors in 1670. He rebuilt the Degutale Temple built by his grandfather, Siva Simha, and the Taleju Temple in the palace square. As a substitute to the Indreswara Mahadeva Temple in the distant village of Panauti he built a Shiva temple, Indrapura, near his palace in the square. He carved hymns on the walls of the Jagannath Temple as prayers to Taleju in the form of Kali.
At the southern end of the square, near Kasthamandap at Maru, which was the main city crossroads for early traders, he built another pavilion named Kavindrapura, the mansion of the king of poets. In this mansion he set an idol of dancing Shiva, Nasadyo, which today is highly worshipped by dancers in the Valley.
In the process of beautifying his palace, he added fountains, ponds, and baths. In Sundari Chok, he established a low bath with a golden fountain. He built a small pond, the Naga Pokhari, in the palace adorned with Nagakastha, a wooden serpent, which is said he had ordered stolen from the royal pond in the Bhaktapur Durbar Square. He restored the Licchavi stone sculptures such as the Jalasayana Narayana, the Kaliyadamana, and the Kala Bhairav. An idol of Jalasayana Narayana was placed in a newly created pond in the Bhandarkhal garden in the eastern wing of the palace. As a substitute to the idol of Jalasayana Narayana in Buddhanilkantha, he channeled water from Buddhanilkantha to the pond in Bhandarkhal due bestow authenticity. The Kalyadana, a manifestation of Lord Krishna destroying Kaliya, a water serpent, is placed in Kalindi Chok, which is adjacent to the Mohan Chok. The approximately ten-feet-high image of terrifyingly portrayed Kal Bhairav is placed near the Jagannath Temple. This image is the focus of worship in the chok especially during Durga Puja.
With the death of Pratap Malla in 1674, the overall emphasis on the importance of the square came to a halt. His successors retained relatively insignificant power and the prevailing ministers took control of most of the royal rule. The ministers encountered little influence under these kings and, increasingly, interest of the arts and additions to the square was lost on them. They focused less on culture than Pratap Malla during the three decades that followed his death, steering the city and country more towards the arenas of politics and power, with only a few minor constructions made in the square. These projects included Parthivendra Malla building a temple referred to as Trailokya Mohan or Dasavatara, dedicated to Lord Vishnu in 1679. A large statue of Garuda, the mount of Lord Vishnu, was added in front of it a decade later. Parthivendra Malla added a pillar with image of his family in front of the Taleju Temple.
Around 1692, Radhilasmi, the widowed queen of Pratap Malla, erected the tall temples of Shiva known as Maju Deval near the Garuda image in the square. This temple stands on nine stepped platforms and is one of the tallest buildings in the square. Then her son, Bhupalendra Malla, took the throne and banished the widowed queen to the hills. His death came early at the age of twenty one and his widowed queen, Bhuvanalaksmi, built a temple in the square known as Kageswara Mahadev. The temple was built in the Newari style and acted as a substitute for worship of a distant temple in the hills. After the earthquake in 1934, the temple was restored with a dome roof, which was alien to the Newari architecture.
Jayaprakash Malla, the last Malla king to rule Kathmandu, built a temple for Kumari and Durga in her virginal state. The temple was named Kumari Bahal and was structured like a typical Newari vihara. In his house resides the Kumari, a girl who is revered as the living goddess. He also made a chariot for Kumari and in the courtyard had detailed terra cotta tiles of that time laid down.
UNDER THE SHAH DYNASTY
During the Shah dynasty that followed, the Kathmandu Durbar Square saw a number of changes. Two of the most unique temples in the square were built during this time. One is the Nautale, a nine-storied building known as Basantapur Durbar. It has four roofs and stands at the end of Nasal Chok at the East side of the palace. It is said that this building was set as a pleasure house. The lower three stories were made in the Newari farmhouse style. The upper floors have Newari style windows, sanjhya and tikijhya, and some of them are slightly projected from the wall. The other temple is annexed to the Vasantapur Durbar and has four-stories. This building was initially known as Vilasamandira, or Lohom Chok, but is now commonly known as Basantapur or Tejarat Chok. The lower floors of the Basantapur Chok display extensive woodcarvings and the roofs are made in popular the Mughal style. Archives state that Prthivi Narayan Shah built these two buildings in 1770.
Rana Bahadur Shah was enthroned at the age of two. Bahadur Shah, the second son of Prithvi Narayan Shah, ruled as a regent for his young nephew Rana Bahadur Shah for a close to a decade from 1785 to 1794 and built a temple of Shiva Parvati in the square. This one roofed temple is designed in the Newari style and is remarkably similar to previous temples built by the Mallas. It is rectangular in shape, and enshrines the Navadurga, a group of goddesses, on the ground floor. It has a wooden image of Shiva and Parvati at the window of the upper floor, looking out at the passersby in the square. Another significant donation made during the time of Rana Bahadur Shah is the metal-plated head of Swet Bhairav near the Degutale Temple. It was donated during the festival of Indra Jatra in 1795, and continues to play a major role during the festival every year. This approximately twelve feet high face of Bhairav is concealed behind a latticed wooden screen for the rest of the year. The following this donation Rana Bahadur donated a huge bronze bell as an offering to the Goddess Taleju. Together with the beating of the huge drums donated by his son Girvan Yudha, the bell was rung every day during the daily ritual worship to the goddess. Later these instruments were also used as an alarm system. However, after the death of his beloved third wife Kanimati Devi due to smallpox, Rana Bahadur Shah turned mad with grief and had many images of gods and goddesses smashed including the Taleju statue and bell, and Sitala, the goddess of smallpox.
In 1908, a palace, Gaddi Durbar, was built using European architectural designs. The Rana Prime Ministers who had taken over the power but not the throne of the country from the Shahs Kings from 1846 to 1951 were highly influenced by European styles. The Gaddi Durbar is covered in white plaster, has Greek columns and adjoins a large audience hall, all foreign features to Nepali architecture. The balconies of this durbar were reserved for the royal family during festivals to view the square below.
Some of the parts of the square like the Hatti Chok near the Kumari Bahal in the southern section of the square were removed during restoration after the devastating earthquake in 1934. While building the New Road, the southeastern part of the palace was cleared away, leaving only fragments in places as reminders of their past. Though decreased from its original size and attractiveness from its earlier seventeenth-century architecture, the Kathmandu Durbar Square still displays an ancient surrounding that spans abound five acres of land. It has palaces, temples, quadrangles, courtyards, ponds, and images that were brought together over three centuries of the Malla, the Shah, and the Rana dynasties. It was destroyed in the April 2015 Nepal earthquake.
VISITING
Kathmandu's Durbar Square is the site of the Hanuman Dhoka Palace Complex, which was the royal Nepalese residence until the 19th century and where important ceremonies, such as the coronation of the Nepalese monarch, took place. The palace is decorated with elaborately-carved wooden windows and panels and houses the King Tribhuwan Memorial Museum and the Mahendra Museum. It is possible to visit the state rooms inside the palace.
Time and again the temples and the palaces in the square have gone through reconstruction after being damaged by natural causes or neglect. Presently there are less than ten quadrangles in the square. The temples are being preserved as national heritage sites and the palace is being used as a museum. Only a few parts of the palace are open for visitors and the Taleju temples are only open for people of Hindu and Buddhist faiths.
At the southern end of Durbar Square is one of the most curious attractions in Nepal, the Kumari Chok. This gilded cage contains the Raj Kumari, a girl chosen through an ancient and mystical selection process to become the human incarnation of the Hindu mother goddess, Durga. She is worshiped during religious festivals and makes public appearances at other times for a fee paid to her guards.
WIKIPEDIA
I spent much of the day modding an old Holga 120SF. It now has a bulb mode (well, ok, it now has nothing but a bulb mode), a cable release and a tripod mount. It also has a detachable (via the magic of tape) 6x closeup lens, purloined from a magnifying glass. Early tests suggest a focus sweet spot at about 4 inches and a terrifyingly tiny depth of field. This could be fun.
Tungam or Terrifying Deities dance at Paro Dzong during Tsechu festival in Bhutan. /// La danse des détiés térrifiantes pendant le festival de Paro, Bhoutan.
© David Ducoin
The octopus (plural octopuses) is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (/ɒkˈtɒpədə/, ok-TO-pə-də). Around 300 species are recognised, and the order is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like other cephalopods, the octopus is bilaterally symmetric with two eyes and a beak, with its mouth at the center point of the eight limbs.[a] The soft body can rapidly alter its shape, enabling octopuses to squeeze through small gaps. They trail their eight appendages behind them as they swim. The siphon is used both for respiration and for locomotion, by expelling a jet of water. Octopuses have a complex nervous system and excellent sight, and are among the most intelligent and behaviourally diverse of all invertebrates.
Octopuses inhabit various regions of the ocean, including coral reefs, pelagic waters, and the seabed; some live in the intertidal zone and others at abyssal depths. Most species grow quickly, mature early, and are short-lived. In most species, the male uses a specially adapted arm to deliver a bundle of sperm directly into the female's mantle cavity, after which he becomes senescent and dies, while the female deposits fertilised eggs in a den and cares for them until they hatch, after which she also dies. Strategies to defend themselves against predators include the expulsion of ink, the use of camouflage and threat displays, the ability to jet quickly through the water and hide, and even deceit. All octopuses are venomous, but only the blue-ringed octopuses are known to be deadly to humans.
Octopuses appear in mythology as sea monsters like the Kraken of Norway and the Akkorokamui of the Ainu, and probably the Gorgon of ancient Greece. A battle with an octopus appears in Victor Hugo's book Toilers of the Sea, inspiring other works such as Ian Fleming's Octopussy. Octopuses appear in Japanese erotic art, shunga. They are eaten and considered a delicacy by humans in many parts of the world, especially the Mediterranean and the Asian seas.
ETYMOLOGY AND PLURALISATION
The scientific Latin term octopus was derived from Ancient Greek ὀκτώπους, a compound form of ὀκτώ (oktō, "eight") and πούς (pous, "foot"), itself a variant form of ὀκτάπους, a word used for example by Alexander of Tralles (c. 525–605) for the common octopus. The standard pluralised form of "octopus" in English is "octopuses"; the Ancient Greek plural ὀκτώποδες, "octopodes" (/ɒkˈtɒpədiːz/), has also been used historically. The alternative plural "octopi" is considered grammatically incorrect because it wrongly assumes that octopus is a Latin second declension "-us" noun or adjective when, in either Greek or Latin, it is a third declension noun.
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that the only acceptable plural in English is "octopuses", that "octopi" is misconceived, and "octopodes" pedantic; the latter is nonetheless used frequently enough to be acknowledged by the descriptivist Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary and Webster's New World College Dictionary. The Oxford English Dictionary lists "octopuses", "octopi", and "octopodes", in that order, reflecting frequency of use, calling "octopodes" rare and noting that "octopi" is based on a misunderstanding. The New Oxford American Dictionary (3rd Edition, 2010) lists "octopuses" as the only acceptable pluralisation, and indicates that "octopodes" is still occasionally used, but that "octopi" is incorrect.
ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY
SIZE
The giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) is often cited as the largest known octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg, with an arm span of up to 4.3 m. The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg. Much larger sizes have been claimed for the giant Pacific octopus: one specimen was recorded as 272 kg with an arm span of 9 m. A carcass of the seven-arm octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, weighed 61 kg and was estimated to have had a live mass of 75 kg. The smallest species is Octopus wolfi, which is around 2.5 cm and weighs less than 1 g.
EXTERNAL CHARACTERISTICS
The octopus is bilaterally symmetrical along its dorso-ventral axis; the head and foot are at one end of an elongated body and function as the anterior (front) of the animal. The head includes the mouth and brain. The foot has evolved into a set of flexible, prehensile appendages, known as "arms", that surround the mouth and are attached to each other near their base by a webbed structure. The arms can be described based on side and sequence position (such as L1, R1, L2, R2) and divided into four pairs. The two rear appendages are generally used to walk on the sea floor, while the other six are used to forage for food; hence some biologists refer to the animals as having six "arms" and two "legs". The bulbous and hollow mantle is fused to the back of the head and is known as the visceral hump; it contains most of the vital organs. The mantle cavity has muscular walls and contains the gills; it is connected to the exterior by a funnel or siphon. The mouth of an octopus, located underneath the arms, has a sharp hard beak.
The skin consists of a thin outer epidermis with mucous cells and sensory cells, and a connective tissue dermis consisting largely of collagen fibres and various cells allowing colour change. Most of the body is made of soft tissue allowing it to lengthen, contract, and contort itself. The octopus can squeeze through tiny gaps; even the larger species can pass through an opening close to 2.5 cm in diameter. Lacking skeletal support, the arms work as muscular hydrostats and contain longitudinal, transverse and circular muscles around a central axial nerve. They can extend and contract, twist to left or right, bend at any place in any direction or be held rigid.
The interior surfaces of the arms are covered with circular, adhesive suckers. The suckers allow the octopus to anchor itself or to manipulate objects. Each sucker is usually circular and bowl-like and has two distinct parts: an outer shallow cavity called an infundibulum and a central hollow cavity called an acetabulum, both of which are thick muscles covered in a protective chitinous cuticle. When a sucker attaches to a surface, the orifice between the two structures is sealed. The infundibulum provides adhesion while the acetabulum remains free, and muscle contractions allow for attachment and detachment.
The eyes of the octopus are large and are at the top of the head. They are similar in structure to those of a fish and are enclosed in a cartilaginous capsule fused to the cranium. The cornea is formed from a translucent epidermal layer and the slit-shaped pupil forms a hole in the iris and lies just behind. The lens is suspended behind the pupil and photoreceptive retinal cells cover the back of the eye. The pupil can be adjusted in size and a retinal pigment screens incident light in bright conditions.Some species differ in form from the typical octopus body shape. Basal species, the Cirrina, have stout gelatinous bodies with webbing that reaches near the tip of their arms, and two large fins above the eyes, supported by an internal shell. Fleshy papillae or cirri are found along the bottom of the arms, and the eyes are more developed.
CIRCULATORY SYSTEM
Octopuses have a closed circulatory system, in which the blood remains inside blood vessels. Octopuses have three hearts; a systemic heart that circulates blood around the body and two branchial hearts that pump it through each of the two gills. The systemic heart is inactive when the animal is swimming and thus it tires quickly and prefers to crawl. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein haemocyanin to transport oxygen. This makes the blood very viscous and it requires considerable pressure to pump it around the body; octopuses' blood pressures can exceed 75 mmHg. In cold conditions with low oxygen levels, haemocyanin transports oxygen more efficiently than haemoglobin. The haemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within blood cells, and gives the blood a bluish colour.
The systemic heart has muscular contractile walls and consists of a single ventricle and two atria, one for each side of the body. The blood vessels consist of arteries, capillaries and veins and are lined with a cellular endothelium which is quite unlike that of most other invertebrates. The blood circulates through the aorta and capillary system, to the vena cavae, after which the blood is pumped through the gills by the auxiliary hearts and back to the main heart. Much of the venous system is contractile, which helps circulate the blood.
RESPIRATION
Respiration involves drawing water into the mantle cavity through an aperture, passing it through the gills, and expelling it through the siphon. The ingress of water is achieved by contraction of radial muscles in the mantle wall, and flapper valves shut when strong circular muscles force the water out through the siphon. Extensive connective tissue lattices support the respiratory muscles and allow them to expand the respiratory chamber. The lamella structure of the gills allows for a high oxygen uptake, up to 65% in water at 20 °C. Water flow over the gills correlates with locomotion, and an octopus can propel its body when it expels water out of its siphon.
The thin skin of the octopus absorbs additional oxygen. When resting, around 41% of an octopus's oxygen absorption is through the skin. This decreases to 33% when it swims, as more water flows over the gills; skin oxygen uptake also increases. When it is resting after a meal, absorption through the skin can drop to 3% of its total oxygen uptake.
DIGESTION AND EXCRETION
The digestive system of the octopus begins with the buccal mass which consists of the mouth with its chitinous beak, the pharynx, radula and salivary glands. The radula is a spiked, muscular tongue-like organ with multiple rows of tiny teeth. Food is broken down and is forced into the oesophagus by two lateral extensions of the esophageal side walls in addition to the radula. From there it is transferred to the gastrointestinal tract, which is mostly suspended from the roof of the mantle cavity by numerous membranes. The tract consists of a crop, where the food is stored; a stomach, where food is ground down; a caecum where the now sludgy food is sorted into fluids and particles and which plays an important role in absorption; the digestive gland, where liver cells break down and absorb the fluid and become "brown bodies"; and the intestine, where the accumulated waste is turned into faecal ropes by secretions and blown out of the funnel via the rectum.
During osmoregulation, fluid is added to the pericardia of the branchial hearts. The octopus has two nephridia (equivalent to vertebrate kidneys) which are associated with the branchial hearts; these and their associated ducts connect the pericardial cavities with the mantle cavity. Before reaching the branchial heart, each branch of the vena cava expands to form renal appendages which are in direct contact with the thin-walled nephridium. The urine is first formed in the pericardial cavity, and is modified by excretion, chiefly of ammonia, and selective absorption from the renal appendages, as it is passed along the associated duct and through the nephridiopore into the mantle cavity.
NERVOUS SYSTEM AND SENSES
The octopus (along with cuttlefish) has the highest brain-to-body mass ratios of all invertebrates; it is also greater than that of many vertebrates. It has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localised in its brain, which is contained in a cartilaginous capsule. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which show a variety of complex reflex actions that persist even when they have no input from the brain. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses are not organised in their brain via an internal somatotopic map of its body, instead using a nonsomatotopic system unique to large-brained invertebrates.
Like other cephalopods, octopuses can distinguish the polarisation of light. Colour vision appears to vary from species to species, for example being present in O. aegina but absent in O. vulgaris. Researchers believe that opsins in the skin can sense different wavelengths of light and help the creatures choose a coloration that camouflages them, in addition to light input from the eyes. Other researchers hypothesise that cephalopod eyes in species which only have a single photoreceptor protein may use chromatic aberration to turn monochromatic vision into colour vision, though this sacrifices image quality. This would explain pupils shaped like the letter U, the letter W, or a dumbbell, as well as explaining the need for colourful mating displays.
Attached to the brain are two special organs called statocysts (sac-like structures containing a mineralised mass and sensitive hairs), that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body. They provide information on the position of the body relative to gravity and can detect angular acceleration. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil is always horizontal. Octopuses may also use the statocyst to hear sound. The common octopus can hear sounds between 400 Hz and 1000 Hz, and hears best at 600 Hz.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. The octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so the octopus can taste what it touches. Octopus arms do not become tangled or stuck to each other because the sensors recognise octopus skin and prevent self-attachment.
The arms contain tension sensors so the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out, but this is not sufficient for the brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. The neurological autonomy of the arms means the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. It has a poor proprioceptive sense, and it knows what exact motions were made only by observing the arms visually.
Ink sac
The ink sac of an octopus is located under the digestive gland. A gland attached to the sac produces the ink, and the sac stores it. The sac is close enough to the funnel for the octopus to shoot out the ink with a water jet. Before it leaves the funnel, the ink passes through glands which mix it with mucus, creating a thick, dark blob which allows the animal to escape from a predator. The main pigment in the ink is melanin, which gives it its black colour. Cirrate octopuses lack the ink sac.
LIFECYCLE
REPRODUCTION
Octopuses are gonochoric and have a single, posteriorly-located gonad which is associated with the coelom. The testis in males and the ovary in females bulges into the gonocoel and the gametes are released here. The gonocoel is connected by the gonoduct to the mantle cavity, which it enters at the gonopore. An optic gland creates hormones that cause the octopus to mature and age and stimulate gamete production. The gland may be triggered by environmental conditions such as temperature, light and nutrition, which thus control the timing of reproduction and lifespan.
When octopuses reproduce, the male uses a specialised arm called a hectocotylus to transfer spermatophores (packets of sperm) from the terminal organ of the reproductive tract (the cephalopod "penis") into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm, which has a spoon-shaped depression and modified suckers near the tip. In most species, fertilisation occurs in the mantle cavity.
The reproduction of octopuses has been studied in only a few species. One such species is the giant Pacific octopus, in which courtship is accompanied, especially in the male, by changes in skin texture and colour. The male may cling to the top or side of the female or position himself beside her. There is some speculation that he may first use his hectocotylus to remove any spermatophore or sperm already present in the female. He picks up a spermatophore from his spermatophoric sac with the hectocotylus, inserts it into the female's mantle cavity, and deposits it in the correct location for the species, which in the giant Pacific octopus is the opening of the oviduct. Two spermatophores are transferred in this way; these are about one metre (yard) long, and the empty ends may protrude from the female's mantle. A complex hydraulic mechanism releases the sperm from the spermatophore, and it is stored internally by the female.
About forty days after mating, the female giant Pacific octopus attaches strings of small fertilised eggs (10,000 to 70,000 in total) to rocks in a crevice or under an overhang. Here she guards and cares for them for about five months (160 days) until they hatch. In colder waters, such as those off of Alaska, it may take as much as 10 months for the eggs to completely develop. The female aerates the eggs and keeps them clean; if left untended, many eggs will not hatch. She does not feed during this time and dies soon afterwards. Males become senescent and die a few weeks after mating.
The eggs have large yolks; cleavage (division) is superficial and a germinal disc develops at the pole. During gastrulation, the margins of this grow down and surround the yolk, forming a yolk sac, which eventually forms part of the gut. The dorsal side of the disc grows upwards and forms the embryo, with a shell gland on its dorsal surface, gills, mantle and eyes. The arms and funnel develop as part of the foot on the ventral side of the disc. The arms later migrate upwards, coming to form a ring around the funnel and mouth. The yolk is gradually absorbed as the embryo develops.
Most young octopuses hatch as paralarvae and are planktonic for weeks to months, depending on the species and water temperature. They feed on copepods, arthropod larvae and other zooplankton, eventually settling on the ocean floor and developing directly into adults with no distinct metamorphoses that are present in other groups of mollusc larvae. Octopus species that produce larger eggs – including the southern blue-ringed, Caribbean reef, California two-spot, Eledone moschata and deep sea octopuses – do not have a paralarval stage, but hatch as benthic animals similar to the adults.In the argonaut (paper nautilus), the female secretes a fine, fluted, papery shell in which the eggs are deposited and in which she also resides while floating in mid-ocean. In this she broods the young, and it also serves as a buoyancy aid allowing her to adjust her depth. The male argonaut is minute by comparison and has no shell.
LIFESPAN
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy; some species live for as little as six months. The giant Pacific octopus, one of the two largest species of octopus, may live for as much as five years. Octopus lifespan is limited by reproduction: males can live for only a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. The larger Pacific striped octopus is an exception, as it can reproduce multiple times over a life of around two years. Octopus reproductive organs mature due to the hormonal influence of the optic gland but result in the inactivation of their digestive glands, typically causing the octopus to die from starvation. Experimental removal of both optic glands after spawning was found to result in the cessation of broodiness, the resumption of feeding, increased growth, and greatly extended lifespans. It has been proposed that the naturally short lifespan may be functional to prevent rapid overpopulation.
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
Octopuses live in every ocean, and different species have adapted to different marine habitats. As juveniles, common octopuses inhabit shallow tide pools. The Hawaiian day octopus (Octopus cyanea) lives on coral reefs; argonauts drift in pelagic waters. Abdopus aculeatus mostly lives in near-shore seagrass beds. Some species are adapted to the cold, ocean depths. The spoon-armed octopus (Bathypolypus arcticus) is found at depths of 1,000 m, and Vulcanoctopus hydrothermalis lives near hydrothermal vents at 2,000 m. The cirrate species are often free-swimming and live in deep-water habitats. Although several species are known to live at bathyal and abyssal depths, there is only a single indisputable record of an octopus in the hadal zone; a species of Grimpoteuthis (dumbo octopus) photographed at 6,957 m. No species are known to live in fresh water.
BEHAVIOUR AND ECOLOGY
Most species are solitary when not mating, though a few are known to occur in high densities and with frequent interactions, signaling, mate defending and eviction of individuals from dens. This is likely the result of abundant food supplies combined with limited den sites. The larger Pacific striped octopus however is social, living in groups of up to 40 individuals that share dens. Octopuses hide in dens, which are typically crevices in rocky outcrops or other hard structures, though some species burrow into sand or mud. Octopuses are not territorial but generally remain in a home range; they may leave the area in search of food. They can use navigation skills to return to a den without having to retrace their outward route. They are not known to be migratory.
Octopuses bring captured prey back to the den where they can eat it safely. Sometimes the octopus catches more prey than it can eat, and the den is often surrounded by a midden of dead and uneaten food items. Other creatures, such as fish, crabs, molluscs and echinoderms, often share the den with the octopus, either because they have arrived as scavengers, or because they have survived capture. Octopuses rarely engage in interspecific cooperative hunting with fish as their partners. They regulate the species composition of the hunting group - and the behavior of their partners - by punching them.
FEEDING
Nearly all octopuses are predatory; bottom-dwelling octopuses eat mainly crustaceans, polychaete worms, and other molluscs such as whelks and clams; open-ocean octopuses eat mainly prawns, fish and other cephalopods. Major items in the diet of the giant Pacific octopus include bivalve molluscs such as the cockle Clinocardium nuttallii, clams and scallops and crustaceans such as crabs and spider crabs. Prey that it is likely to reject include moon snails because they are too large and limpets, rock scallops, chitons and abalone, because they are too securely fixed to the rock.
A benthic (bottom-dwelling) octopus typically moves among the rocks and feels through the crevices. The creature may make a jet-propelled pounce on prey and pull it towards the mouth with its arms, the suckers restraining it. Small prey may be completely trapped by the webbed structure. Octopuses usually inject crustaceans like crabs with a paralysing saliva then dismember them with their beaks. Octopuses feed on shelled molluscs either by forcing the valves apart, or by drilling a hole in the shell to inject a nerve toxin. It used to be thought that the hole was drilled by the radula, but it has now been shown that minute teeth at the tip of the salivary papilla are involved, and an enzyme in the toxic saliva is used to dissolve the calcium carbonate of the shell. It takes about three hours for O. vulgaris to create a 0.6 mm hole. Once the shell is penetrated, the prey dies almost instantaneously, its muscles relax, and the soft tissues are easy for the octopus to remove. Crabs may also be treated in this way; tough-shelled species are more likely to be drilled, and soft-shelled crabs are torn apart.
Some species have other modes of feeding. Grimpoteuthis has a reduced or non-existent radula and swallows prey whole. In the deep-sea genus Stauroteuthis, some of the muscle cells that control the suckers in most species have been replaced with photophores which are believed to fool prey by directing them towards the mouth, making them one of the few bioluminescent octopuses.
LOCOMOTION
Octopuses mainly move about by relatively slow crawling with some swimming in a head-first position. Jet propulsion or backwards swimming, is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and crawling. When in no hurry, they usually crawl on either solid or soft surfaces. Several arms are extended forwards, some of the suckers adhere to the substrate and the animal hauls itself forwards with its powerful arm muscles, while other arms may push rather than pull. As progress is made, other arms move ahead to repeat these actions and the original suckers detach. During crawling, the heart rate nearly doubles, and the animal requires ten or fifteen minutes to recover from relatively minor exercise.
Most octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from the mantle through the siphon into the sea. The physical principle behind this is that the force required to accelerate the water through the orifice produces a reaction that propels the octopus in the opposite direction. The direction of travel depends on the orientation of the siphon. When swimming, the head is at the front and the siphon is pointed backwards, but when jetting, the visceral hump leads, the siphon points towards the head and the arms trail behind, with the animal presenting a fusiform appearance. In an alternative method of swimming, some species flatten themselves dorso-ventrally, and swim with the arms held out sideways, and this may provide lift and be faster than normal swimming. Jetting is used to escape from danger, but is physiologically inefficient, requiring a mantle pressure so high as to stop the heart from beating, resulting in a progressive oxygen deficit.
Cirrate octopuses cannot produce jet propulsion and rely on their fins for swimming. They have neutral buoyancy and drift through the water with the fins extended. They can also contract their arms and surrounding web to make sudden moves known as "take-offs". Another form of locomotion is "pumping", which involves symmetrical contractions of muscles in their webs producing peristaltic waves. This moves the body slowly.
In 2005, Adopus aculeatus and veined octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) were found to walk on two arms, while at the same time mimicking plant matter. This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator without being recognised. A study of this behaviour led to the suggestion that the two rearmost appendages may be more accurately termed "legs" rather than "arms". Some species of octopus can crawl out of the water briefly, which they may do between tide pools while hunting crustaceans or gastropods or to escape predators. "Stilt walking" is used by the veined octopus when carrying stacked coconut shells. The octopus carries the shells underneath it with two arms, and progresses with an ungainly gait supported by its remaining arms held rigid.
INTELLIGENCE
Octopuses are highly intelligent; the extent of their intelligence and learning capability are not well defined. Maze and problem-solving experiments have shown evidence of a memory system that can store both short- and long-term memory. It is not known precisely what contribution learning makes to adult octopus behaviour. Young octopuses learn nothing from their parents, as adults provide no parental care beyond tending to their eggs until the young octopuses hatch.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practise observational learning, although the validity of these findings is contested. Octopuses have also been observed in what has been described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs. The veined octopus collects discarded coconut shells, then uses them to build a shelter, an example of tool use.
CAMOUFLAGE AND COLOUR CHANGE
Octopuses use camouflage when hunting and to avoid predators. To do this they use specialised skin cells which change the appearance of the skin by adjusting its colour, opacity, or reflectivity. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colours, while some have two or four. Other colour-changing cells are reflective iridophores and white leucophores. This colour-changing ability is also used to communicate with or warn other octopuses.
Octopuses can create distracting patterns with waves of dark coloration across the body, a display known as the "passing cloud". Muscles in the skin change the texture of the mantle to achieve greater camouflage. In some species, the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of algae; in others, skin anatomy is limited to relatively uniform shades of one colour with limited skin texture. Octopuses that are diurnal and live in shallow water have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and deep-sea counterparts.
A "moving rock" trick involves the octopus mimicking a rock and then inching across the open space with a speed matching the movement in the surrounding water, allowing it to move in plain sight of a predator.
DEFENCE
Aside from humans, octopuses may be preyed on by fishes, seabirds, sea otters, pinnipeds, cetaceans, and other cephalopods. Octopuses typically hide or disguise themselves by camouflage and mimicry; some have conspicuous warning coloration (aposematism) or deimatic behaviour. An octopus may spend 40% of its time hidden away in its den. When the octopus is approached, it may extend an arm to investigate. 66% of Enteroctopus dofleini in one study had scars, with 50% having amputated arms. The blue rings of the highly venomous blue-ringed octopus are hidden in muscular skin folds which contract when the animal is threatened, exposing the iridescent warning. The Atlantic white-spotted octopus (Callistoctopus macropus) turns bright brownish red with oval white spots all over in a high contrast display. Displays are often reinforced by stretching out the animal's arms, fins or web to make it look as big and threatening as possible.
Once they have been seen by a predator, they commonly try to escape but can also use distraction with an ink cloud ejected from the ink sac. The ink is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might act as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a manner similar to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm may distract would-be predators. Such severed arms remain sensitive to stimuli and move away from unpleasant sensations. Octopuses can replace lost limbs.
Some octopuses, such as the mimic octopus, can combine their highly flexible bodies with their colour-changing ability to mimic other, more dangerous animals, such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels.
PATHOGENS AND PARASITES
The diseases and parasites that affect octopuses have been little studied, but cephalopods are known to be the intermediate or final hosts of various parasitic cestodes, nematodes and copepods; 150 species of protistan and metazoan parasites have been recognised. The Dicyemidae are a family of tiny worms that are found in the renal appendages of many species; it is unclear whether they are parasitic or are endosymbionts. Coccidians in the genus Aggregata living in the gut cause severe disease to the host. Octopuses have an innate immune system, and the haemocytes respond to infection by phagocytosis, encapsulation, infiltration or cytotoxic activities to destroy or isolate the pathogens. The haemocytes play an important role in the recognition and elimination of foreign bodies and wound repair. Captive animals have been found to be more susceptible to pathogens than wild ones. A gram-negative bacterium, Vibrio lentus, has been found to cause skin lesions, exposure of muscle and death of octopuses in extreme cases.
EVOLUTION
The scientific name Octopoda was first coined and given as the order of octopuses in 1818 by English biologist William Elford Leach, who classified them as Octopoida the previous year. The Octopoda consists of around 300 known species and were historically divided into two suborders, the Incirrina and the Cirrina. However, more recent evidence suggests that Cirrina are merely the most basal species and are not a unique clade. The incirrate octopuses (the majority of species) lack the cirri and paired swimming fins of the cirrates. In addition, the internal shell of incirrates is either present as a pair of stylets or absent altogether.
FOSSIL HISTORY AND PHYLOGENY
Cephalopods have existed for 500 million years and octopus ancestors were in the Carboniferous seas 300 million years ago. The oldest known octopus fossil is Pohlsepia, which lived 296 million years ago. Researchers have identified impressions of eight arms, two eyes, and possibly an ink sac. Octopuses are mostly soft tissue, and so fossils are relatively rare. Octopuses, squids and cuttlefish belong to the clade Coleoidea. They are known as "soft-bodied" cephalopods, lacking the external shell of most molluscs and other cephalopods like the nautiloids and the extinct Ammonoidea. Octopuses have eight limbs like other coleoids but lack the extra specialised feeding appendages known as tentacles which are longer and thinner with suckers only at their club-like ends. The vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis) also lacks tentacles but has sensory filaments.
The cladograms are based on Sanchez et al., 2018, who created a molecular phylogeny based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA marker sequences.
RNA EDITING
Octopuses and other coleoid cephalopods are capable of greater RNA editing (which involves changes to the nucleic acid sequence of the primary transcript of RNA molecules) than any other organisms. Editing is concentrated in the nervous system and affects proteins involved in neural excitability and neuronal morphology. More than 60% of RNA transcripts for coleoid brains are recoded by editing, compared to less than 1% for a human or fruit fly. Coleoids rely mostly on ADAR enzymes for RNA editing, which requires large double-stranded RNA structures to flank the editing sites. Both the structures and editing sites are conserved in the coleoid genome and the mutation rates for the sites are severely hampered. Hence, greater transcriptome plasticity has come at the cost of slower genome evolution. High levels of RNA editing do not appear to be present in more basal cephalopods or other molluscs.
RELATIONSHIP TO HUMANS
CULTURAL REFERENCES
Ancient seafaring people were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos (1900–1100 BC) has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. The terrifyingly powerful Gorgon of Greek mythology has been thought to have been inspired by the octopus or squid, the octopus itself representing the severed head of Medusa, the beak as the protruding tongue and fangs, and its tentacles as the snakes. The Kraken are legendary sea monsters of giant proportions said to dwell off the coasts of Norway and Greenland, usually portrayed in art as a giant octopus attacking ships. Linnaeus included it in the first edition of his 1735 Systema Naturae. One translation of the Hawaiian creation myth the Kumulipo suggests that the octopus is the lone survivor of a previous age. The Akkorokamui is a gigantic octopus-like monster from Ainu folklore.
A battle with an octopus plays a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea), relating to his time in exile on Guernsey. Ian Fleming's 1966 short story collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights, and the 1983 James Bond film were partly inspired by Hugo's book.
Japanese erotic art, shunga, includes ukiyo-e woodblock prints such as Katsushika Hokusai's 1814 print Tako to ama (The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife), in which an ama diver is sexually intertwined with a large and a small octopus. The print is a forerunner of tentacle erotica. The biologist P. Z. Myers noted in his science blog, Pharyngula, that octopuses appear in "extraordinary" graphic illustrations involving women, tentacles, and bare breasts.
Since it has numerous arms emanating from a common centre, the octopus is often used as a symbol for a powerful and manipulative organisation, company, or country.
DANGER
Octopuses generally avoid humans, but incidents have been verified. For example, a 2.4-metre Pacific octopus, said to be nearly perfectly camouflaged, "lunged" at a diver and "wrangled" over his camera before it let go. Another diver recorded the encounter on video.
All species are venomous, but only blue-ringed octopuses have venom that is lethal to humans. Bites are reported each year across the animals' range from Australia to the eastern Indo-Pacific Ocean. They bite only when provoked or accidentally stepped upon; bites are small and usually painless. The venom appears to be able to penetrate the skin without a puncture, given prolonged contact. It contains tetrodotoxin, which causes paralysis by blocking the transmission of nerve impulses to the muscles. This causes death by respiratory failure leading to cerebral anoxia. No antidote is known, but if breathing can be kept going artificially, patients recover within 24 hours. Bites have been recorded from captive octopuses of other species; they leave swellings which disappear in a day or two.
FISHERIES AND CUISINE
Octopus fisheries exist around the world with total catches varying between 245,320 and 322,999 metric tons from 1986 to 1995. The world catch peaked in 2007 at 380,000 tons, and fell by a tenth by 2012. Methods to capture octopuses include pots, traps, trawls, snares, drift fishing, spearing, hooking and hand collection. Octopus is eaten in many cultures and is a common food on the Mediterranean and Asian coasts. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species or geography. Live octopuses are eaten in several countries around the world, including the US. Animal welfare groups have objected to this practice on the basis that octopuses can experience pain. Octopuses have a food conversion efficiency greater than that of chickens, making octopus aquaculture a possibility.
IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
In classical Greece, Aristotle (384–322 BC) commented on the colour-changing abilities of the octopus, both for camouflage and for signalling, in his Historia animalium: "The octopus ... seeks its prey by so changing its colour as to render it like the colour of the stones adjacent to it; it does so also when alarmed." Aristotle noted that the octopus had a hectocotyl arm and suggested it might be used in sexual reproduction. This claim was widely disbelieved until the 19th century. It was described in 1829 by the French zoologist Georges Cuvier, who supposed it to be a parasitic worm, naming it as a new species, Hectocotylus octopodis. Other zoologists thought it a spermatophore; the German zoologist Heinrich Müller believed it was "designed" to detach during copulation. In 1856 the Danish zoologist Japetus Steenstrup demonstrated that it is used to transfer sperm, and only rarely detaches.
Octopuses offer many possibilities in biological research, including their ability to regenerate limbs, change the colour of their skin, behave intelligently with a distributed nervous system, and make use of 168 kinds of protocadherins (humans have 58), the proteins that guide the connections neurons make with each other. The California two-spot octopus has had its genome sequenced, allowing exploration of its molecular adaptations. Having independently evolved mammal-like intelligence, octopuses have been compared to hypothetical intelligent extraterrestrials. Their problem-solving skills, along with their mobility and lack of rigid structure enable them to escape from supposedly secure tanks in laboratories and public aquariums.
Due to their intelligence, octopuses are listed in some countries as experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia, a protection usually extended only to vertebrates. In the UK from 1993 to 2012, the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) was the only invertebrate protected under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. In 2012, this legislation was extended to include all cephalopods in accordance with a general EU directive.
Some robotics research is exploring biomimicry of octopus features. Octopus arms can move and sense largely autonomously without intervention from the animal's central nervous system. In 2015 a team in Italy built soft-bodied robots able to crawl and swim, requiring only minimal computation. In 2017 a German company made an arm with a soft pneumatically controlled silicone gripper fitted with two rows of suckers. It is able to grasp objects such as a metal tube, a magazine, or a ball, and to fill a glass by pouring water from a bottle.
WIKIPEDIA
Among the Coney Island-style attractions at the South Bank's Priceless London Wonderground is a terrifyingly high-spinning swing ride, the Star Flyer, the tallest travelling ride in the UK at 60 meters, offering amazing views.
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This unique area on the west side of Maui resembles something from another planet. An example of the amazing ancient volcanic forces at work, the area was aptly named Dragon's Teeth because the rock structures look like large, terrifyingly jagged teeth. Located in Kapalua adjacent to the Ritz Carlton Hotel and sprawling golf course, Dragon's Teeth is a sacred spot that was an ancient burial ground. Visitors are asked to respect the area while enjoying the natural beauty.
AT A GLANCE:
During the time period of ancient Hawaii when the Maui Volcano was active, molten lava from the volcano flowed freely into the ocean where it was pushed back by strong ocean currents and winds. After being forced back ashore, it cooled into the stunning formations of Dragon's Teeth (also called Makaluapuna Point.) This was one of the last lava flows on the island, adding to the uniqueness of the sight. The frequent spray of salt water over the rocks over the years has bleached the color of the lava, so the originally black "dragon's teeth" are now white.
There is a small parking lot at the end of Lower Honoapiilani Rd. Visitors can park here, and then walk along the edge of the golf course toward the ocean. Be sure to stay to the right of the signs separating the narrow walkway from the golf course.
Just a short drive from most of West Maui's resorts, Dragon's Teeth is a beautiful place to watch the sun rise or set. Sea turtles can often be spotted as they swim up around the rocks.
This image appeared in the LIFE issue of August 23, 1948, under the heading Miscellanea (page 112).
archive.org/details/Life-1948-08-23-Vol-25-No-8/page/112/...
The original caption read: “Alpine High Wire – German walks from Austria on it.
Silhouetted against the Bavarian Alps, Siegwart Bach, a 19-year old German acrobat is performing the nerviest high-wire act of any century. Choosing the Zugspitze, Germany’s tallest mountain, for his record feat, Bach clutched his 60-pound balancing pole and walked 140 yards of cable from an Austrian peak to a German one on the same mountain. Although he crossed the border in four minutes, less time than many tourists require on the ground, Bach had more trouble than he expected. As he walked, the wire swayed a foot each way in the wind. This was particularly disturbing since Bach had forgotten his special shoes and was forced to walk the wire in his stocking feet.”
The image was not very clear. So, I tried to find the original…
I did a Google search and found the original in an article entitled: “Funambulism in Postwar Germany, written by: Yuliya Komska.
The caption in the article reads: “Sigwart Bach taking the terrifyingly high road between Austria and Germany over the Valley of Hell, June 1948.”
The article includes this captivating piece: “… The nerviest high-wire act of any century,” Life touted on 23 August 1948. A hundred and thirty meters of wire at an elevation of over twenty-nine hundred meters, an aerial border crossing between the Austrian summit of the Zugspitze and a cable car dispatch tower in Germany, wide international publicity, and a share of proceeds going to German children in need and to worker welfare—all this would repatriate the heights where they belonged, in the mountains. Easier said than done. For days, local climbers and technicians crawled about the slopes to fasten the cables that secured the wires, only to discover they didn’t have enough length. Eventually American and Bavarian contributions fixed the snag, but then on the morning of the stunt the wind picked up. The barefoot star, Sigwart Bach, dangled among the peaks “like a cross pendant,” Der Spiegel wrote.”
www.cabinetmagazine.org/kiosk/komska_yuliya_4_march_2021.php
The best of Valentine's is scaring off the park's dovecotes
DAL Princess final round: Terrifying Valentin's Day
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Podría haber quedado más expresiva pero estoy contenta con la foto. Independientemente de los resultados finales, me siento satisfecha conmigo misma con el curro que me he ido dando en cada ronda. Por mí ya está bien así.
El gorro de la foto será donado para los sorteos de la PullipCon, espero que os guste!
Priceless London Wonderground at Southbank Centre is a brand new festival.....a playground of wonders and curiosities! More: pricelesslondonwonderground.co.uk/aboutus
Among the cabaret, circus shows, collection of preserved freak animals and other Coney Island-style attractions at the South Bank's Priceless London Wonderground is a terrifyingly high-spinning swing ride....... www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2012/jul/27/london-top-five-fam...
Such a pretty face! Couldn't pass her up again! I wish that they gave her Saran. But she instead has the worst nylon I've ever seen!! Her outfit is pretty cheap too. The fabrics okay, not the worst fabric out there, but it's cheap. My gold trim on her skirt is starting to flake, and her jean skirt is starting to fray in the back. They used real denim for the skirt, but it's in hemmed. Also her legs, knees down, are very rubbery and flop, and wiggle when you put her on her stand. Mainly because of her heavy rubber shoes. Her witch hat is held on by a rubber band that's glued on the bottom of her hat. So if the rubber band breaks, sorry, no hat.lol her earrings are painted, and the scratch the side of her face. And it's only removable with acetone. She's an okay doll but the quality is just bad. They seemed to have rushed on her, and not used the best resources they had to offer. If they did use the best materials they could, this doll wouldn't be half bad! But even her witches broom is cheap! The other side of the broom is flat. But she will live terrifyingly happy in monster high collection.lol she's found it perfectly unlivable here, and loves it!
For centuries, people in the tiny landlocked nation of Bhutan, have sworn spiritual allegiance to a divine human organ: the phallus, or as we know it, the "penis". Anyone who's been to Bhutan recounts sightings of "institutionalized" graffiti on the walls, commemorating a tradition that Buddhists solemnly swear by. Walls bear paintings of penises; some big, some small, some "terrifyingly huge".
Taken in Yosemite on Sentinel Dome, just after taking this and this shot. Those other shots are of a somewhat famous Jeffrey Pine growing on top of Sentinel Dome that sadly died and eventually collapsed only a few years ago.
Not far from that tree this young tree was also growing. Similarly it seems to be growing right out of the granite - there's no clear signs of soil that it's growing in which is pretty amazing (and also likely why the other one suffered from drought and died).
This was shot uphill with the deep deep drop of Yosemite Valley behind me - not terrifyingly close, but had I backed up another 10ft or so I wouldn't have been alive to post it.
As with my other posts from this spot I'm somewhat enamored with the rich red color coming from the smoky air at sunset. It was quite dark at this point, and clearly time to leave as this required a long 25 second exposure. The tree looks a bit out of focus if you zoom in on it, but for the most part that's due to the wind up there combined with the long exposure. You can really see the blur in the needles.
Oh yeah, I also kind of hate portrait-oriented shots for some reason, but I screwed up my landscape oriented shot here so, uhm, this is what's left to work with.
Nikon D40 | Nikon 18-200VR@40mm | f/9 | 25s | ISO200 | Tripod
Others sang your life
but now's your chance to shine
and have the pleasure of
saying what you mean
the rare pleasure of
meaning what you sing
Sing Your Life by Morrissey
Meet my lovely friend Phoebe, who is headed into her last year of college whilst juggling the many mounting responsibilities of "adult" life ahead. She's been so strong through so much this past year and makes it look easy! Growing up is a tough part of life to face for us all and this metaphor seemed appropriate; finally making it up and over the hill that is school and thrillingly/terrifyingly coasting out into life with no breaks to speak of, a smile expected to be on your face. The only thing to do is to treat it like a joyride and hang on for dear life because it will be over in the blink of an eye!
P.S. This hill was much steeper than it appears so props to Phoebe for braving it for this picture and a big thanks to our magic photo helpers who allowed this picture to be taken without endangering Phoebe's life for real.
(51/52)
five years
down the line
nothing new
only remorse
pain increase
in cost of
living nothing
else to emote
my demons
i terrifyingly
fought ..my
life a sinking
boat ,, thrown
out by a wife
kids on the road
neither here
nor there in
a drunken stupor
afloat ..with my
own hands i
want to strangle
my throat ..
here lies a voter fucked forever as my footnote ...tears on the soul of gandhi on my currency note
#elections
#firozeshakir
#beggarpoet
During a five year period, starting 01/01/17, I planned to take 365 "Revealing Detail" photographs covering every date in the year. Revealed here are the details of a small section of my wife's terrifyingly large jigsaw collection!
Such a pretty face! Couldn't pass her up again! I wish that they gave her Saran. But she instead has the worst nylon I've ever seen!! Her outfit is pretty cheap too. The fabrics okay, not the worst fabric out there, but it's cheap. My gold trim on her skirt is starting to flake, and her jean skirt is starting to fray in the back. They used real denim for the skirt, but it's in hemmed. Also her legs, knees down, are very rubbery and flop, and wiggle when you put her on her stand. Mainly because of her heavy rubber shoes. Her witch hat is held on by a rubber band that's glued on the bottom of her hat. So if the rubber band breaks, sorry, no hat.lol her earrings are painted, and the scratch the side of her face. And it's only removable with acetone. She's an okay doll but the quality is just bad. They seemed to have rushed on her, and not used the best resources they had to offer. If they did use the best materials they could, this doll wouldn't be half bad! But even her witches broom is cheap! The other side of the broom is flat. But she will live terrifyingly happy in monster high collection.lol she's found it perfectly unlivable here, and loves it!
There is a neat story surrounding this terrifyingly vicious fish. One time while in the Bahamas we were feeding a flock of newly arrived seagulls in Georgetown from our 56 foot sailboat "Bimini Dancer". I was throwing cheese puffs up for them to greedily gobble up and they would catch them in the air. They were so agile. Unfortunately the wind was blowing hard and the wind generators on the stern were spinning very fast and one very unfortunate seagull flew into it and was immediately accidentally knocked out of the air and fell into the ocean. As it slowly drifted away a dark ominous big fish appeared just under the poor seagull and with a sudden lunge the seagull was snapped out of existence, I felt so guilty and terrible that such a fun activity turned quickly so tragic. But to me the barracuda is even more ominous than even a shark.
I've hired a wide-angle prime lens (a terrifyingly expensive piece of glass) for a very special photoshoot tomorrow.
I figured I should muck about with it and get a feel for it before the main event, so took some snaps around London this afternoon. This lens weighs a ton but damn, is it sharp!
WARNING - SOME PEOPLE MAY FIND THE FOLLOWING TEXT UPSETTING.
This is a real (although, happily, now disused) execution chamber. It is in the Crumlin Road prison in Northern Ireland. The whole prison is now superseded and instead is a tourist attraction. The procedures for an execution brought to condemned man to a holding cell for a few days, where he could do the best he could to prepare himself. He was told that the execution chamber was in another part of the prison and he expected to eventually walk to it. But in reality it was behind a dummy cupboard which, at the appointed time, was crashed to one side to reveal the sight you see here. He was then marched forward and dealt with. The practised team took less then half a minute to complete the task. 17 criminals died here.
I expected to see a central noose (the loop of rope above it was tied to pull apart as the man fell, part of the "long drop" technique that Britain developed, designed to kill "instantly" instead of strangle). The length of rope was dependent on the prisoner's weight; the lighter the man, the longer the rope. What I didn't expect were the two side nooses. These are straps to hold on to (much as you get of trains and trams). Two officers stood either side of the condemned man and stopped him hopping about or collapsing. When the trapdoor crashed open (and the release of the safety lock and trapdoor is terrifyingly sudden and noisy) they obviously didn't want the officers to also fall into the hole.
Kathmandu Durbar Square (Nepali: वसन्तपुर दरवार क्षेत्र, Basantapur Darbar Kshetra) in front of the old royal palace of the former Kathmandu Kingdom is one of three Durbar (royal palace) Squares in the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, all of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Several buildings in the Square collapsed due to a major earthquake on 25 April 2015. Durbar Square was surrounded with spectacular architecture and vividly showcases the skills of the Newar artists and craftsmen over several centuries. The Royal Palace was originally at Dattaraya square and was later moved to the Durbar square.
The Kathmandu Durbar Square held the palaces of the Malla and Shah kings who ruled over the city. Along with these palaces, the square surrounds quadrangles, revealing courtyards and temples. It is known as Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square, a name derived from a statue of Hanuman, the monkey devotee of Lord Ram, at the entrance of the palace.
CONTENTS
HISTORY AND CONSTRUCTION
The preference for the construction of royal palaces at this site dates back to as early as the Licchavi period in the third century. Even though the present palaces and temples have undergone repeated and extensive renovations and nothing physical remains from that period. Names like Gunapo and Gupo, which are the names referred to the palaces in the square in early scriptures, imply that the palaces were built by Gunakamadev, a King ruling late in the tenth-century. When Kathmandu City became independent under the rule of King Ratna Malla (1484–1520), the palaces in the square became the Royal Palaces for its Malla Kings. When Prithvi Narayan Shah invaded the Kathmandu Valley in 1769, he favored the Kathmandu Durbar Square for his palace. Other subsequent Shah kings continued to rule from the square until 1896 when they moved to the Narayan Hiti Palace.
The square is still the center of important royal events like the coronation of King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah in 1975 and King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah in 2001.
Though there are no written archives stating the history of Kathmandu Durbar Square, construction of the palace in the square is credited to Sankharadev (1069–1083). As the first king of the independent Kathmandu City, Ratna Malla is said to have built the Taleju temple in the Northern side of the palace in 1501. For this to be true then the temple would have had to have been built in the vihara style as part of the palace premise surrounding the Mul Chok courtyard for no evidence of a separate structure that would match this temple can be found within the square.
Construction of the Karnel Chok is not clearly stated in any historical inscriptions; although, it is probably the oldest among all the courtyards in the square. The Bhagavati Temple, originally known as a Narayan Temple, rises above the mansions surrounding it and was added during the time of Jagajaya Malla in the early eighteenth century. The Narayan idol within the temple was stolen so Prithvi Narayan Shah replaced it with an image of Bhagavati, completely transforming the name of the temple.
The oldest temples in the square are those built by Mahendra Malla (1560–1574). They are the temples of Jagannath, Kotilingeswara Mahadev, Mahendreswara, and the Taleju Temple. This three-roofed Taleju Temple was established in 1564, in a typical Newari architectural style and is elevated on platforms that form a pyramid-like structure. It is said that Mahendra Malla, when he was residing in Bhaktapur, was highly devoted to the Taleju Temple there; the Goddess being pleased with his devotion gave him a vision asking him to build a temple for her in the Kathmandu Durbar Square. With a help of a hermit, he designed the temple to give it its present form and the Goddess entered the temple in the form of a bee.
His successors Sadasiva (1575–1581), his son, Shiva Simha (1578–1619), and his grandson, Laksmi Narsingha (1619–1641), do not seem to have made any major additions to the square. During this period of three generations the only constructions to have occurred were the establishment of Degutale Temple dedicated to Goddess Mother Taleju by Shiva Simha and some enhancement in the royal palace by Laksminar Simha.
UNDER PRATAP MALLA
In the time of Pratap Malla, son of Laksminar Simha, the square was extensively developed. He was an intellectual, a pious devotee, and especially interested in arts. He called himself a Kavindra, king of poets, and boasted that he was learned in fifteen different languages. A passionate builder, following his coronation as a king, he immediately began enlargements to his royal palace, and rebuilt some old temples and constructed new temples, shrines and stupas around his kingdom.During the construction of his palace, he added a small entrance in the traditional, low and narrow Newari style. The door was elaborately decorated with carvings and paintings of deities and auspicious sings and was later transferred to the entrance of Mohan Chok. In front of the entrance he placed the statue of Hanuman thinking that Hanuman would strengthen his army and protect his home. The entrance leads to Nasal Chok, the courtyard where most royal events such as coronation, performances, and yagyas, holy fire rituals, take place. It was named after Nasadya, the God of Dance, and during the time of Pratap Malla the sacred mask dance dramas performed in Nasal Chok were widely famed. In one of these dramas, it is said that Pratap Malla himself played the role of Lord Vishnu and that the spirit of the Lord remained in the king's body even after the play. After consulting his Tantric leaders, he ordered a stone image of Lord Vishnu in his incarnation as Nara Simha, the half-lion and half-human form, and then transferred the spirit into the stone. This fine image of Nara Simha made in 1673 still stands in the Nasal Chok. In 1650, he commissioned for the construction of Mohan Chok in the palace. This chok remained the royal residential courtyard for many years and is believed to store a great amount of treasure under its surface. Pratap Malla also built Sundari Chok about this time. He placed a slab engraved with lines in fifteen languages and proclaimed that he who can understand the inscription would produce the flow of milk instead of water from Tutedhara, a fountain set in the outer walls of Mohan Chok. However elaborate his constructions may have been, they were not simply intended to emphasize his luxuries but also his and the importance of others' devotion towards deities. He made extensive donations to temples and had the older ones renovated. Next to the palace, he built a Krishna temple, the Vamsagopala, in an octagonal shape in 1649. He dedicated this temple to his two Indian wives, Rupamati and Rajamati, as both had died during the year it was built. In Mohan Chok, he erected a three roofed Agamachem temple and a unique temple with five superimposing roofs. After completely restoring the Mul Chok, he donated to the adjoining Taleju Temple. To the main temple of Taleju, he donated metal doors in 1670. He rebuilt the Degutale Temple built by his grandfather, Siva Simha, and the Taleju Temple in the palace square. As a substitute to the Indreswara Mahadeva Temple in the distant village of Panauti he built a Shiva temple, Indrapura, near his palace in the square. He carved hymns on the walls of the Jagannath Temple as prayers to Taleju in the form of Kali.
At the southern end of the square, near Kasthamandap at Maru, which was the main city crossroads for early traders, he built another pavilion named Kavindrapura, the mansion of the king of poets. In this mansion he set an idol of dancing Shiva, Nasadyo, which today is highly worshipped by dancers in the Valley.
In the process of beautifying his palace, he added fountains, ponds, and baths. In Sundari Chok, he established a low bath with a golden fountain. He built a small pond, the Naga Pokhari, in the palace adorned with Nagakastha, a wooden serpent, which is said he had ordered stolen from the royal pond in the Bhaktapur Durbar Square. He restored the Licchavi stone sculptures such as the Jalasayana Narayana, the Kaliyadamana, and the Kala Bhairav. An idol of Jalasayana Narayana was placed in a newly created pond in the Bhandarkhal garden in the eastern wing of the palace. As a substitute to the idol of Jalasayana Narayana in Buddhanilkantha, he channeled water from Buddhanilkantha to the pond in Bhandarkhal due bestow authenticity. The Kalyadana, a manifestation of Lord Krishna destroying Kaliya, a water serpent, is placed in Kalindi Chok, which is adjacent to the Mohan Chok. The approximately ten-feet-high image of terrifyingly portrayed Kal Bhairav is placed near the Jagannath Temple. This image is the focus of worship in the chok especially during Durga Puja.
With the death of Pratap Malla in 1674, the overall emphasis on the importance of the square came to a halt. His successors retained relatively insignificant power and the prevailing ministers took control of most of the royal rule. The ministers encountered little influence under these kings and, increasingly, interest of the arts and additions to the square was lost on them. They focused less on culture than Pratap Malla during the three decades that followed his death, steering the city and country more towards the arenas of politics and power, with only a few minor constructions made in the square. These projects included Parthivendra Malla building a temple referred to as Trailokya Mohan or Dasavatara, dedicated to Lord Vishnu in 1679. A large statue of Garuda, the mount of Lord Vishnu, was added in front of it a decade later. Parthivendra Malla added a pillar with image of his family in front of the Taleju Temple.
Around 1692, Radhilasmi, the widowed queen of Pratap Malla, erected the tall temples of Shiva known as Maju Deval near the Garuda image in the square. This temple stands on nine stepped platforms and is one of the tallest buildings in the square. Then her son, Bhupalendra Malla, took the throne and banished the widowed queen to the hills. His death came early at the age of twenty one and his widowed queen, Bhuvanalaksmi, built a temple in the square known as Kageswara Mahadev. The temple was built in the Newari style and acted as a substitute for worship of a distant temple in the hills. After the earthquake in 1934, the temple was restored with a dome roof, which was alien to the Newari architecture.
Jayaprakash Malla, the last Malla king to rule Kathmandu, built a temple for Kumari and Durga in her virginal state. The temple was named Kumari Bahal and was structured like a typical Newari vihara. In his house resides the Kumari, a girl who is revered as the living goddess. He also made a chariot for Kumari and in the courtyard had detailed terra cotta tiles of that time laid down.
UNDER THE SHAH DYNASTY
During the Shah dynasty that followed, the Kathmandu Durbar Square saw a number of changes. Two of the most unique temples in the square were built during this time. One is the Nautale, a nine-storied building known as Basantapur Durbar. It has four roofs and stands at the end of Nasal Chok at the East side of the palace. It is said that this building was set as a pleasure house. The lower three stories were made in the Newari farmhouse style. The upper floors have Newari style windows, sanjhya and tikijhya, and some of them are slightly projected from the wall. The other temple is annexed to the Vasantapur Durbar and has four-stories. This building was initially known as Vilasamandira, or Lohom Chok, but is now commonly known as Basantapur or Tejarat Chok. The lower floors of the Basantapur Chok display extensive woodcarvings and the roofs are made in popular the Mughal style. Archives state that Prthivi Narayan Shah built these two buildings in 1770.
Rana Bahadur Shah was enthroned at the age of two. Bahadur Shah, the second son of Prithvi Narayan Shah, ruled as a regent for his young nephew Rana Bahadur Shah for a close to a decade from 1785 to 1794 and built a temple of Shiva Parvati in the square. This one roofed temple is designed in the Newari style and is remarkably similar to previous temples built by the Mallas. It is rectangular in shape, and enshrines the Navadurga, a group of goddesses, on the ground floor. It has a wooden image of Shiva and Parvati at the window of the upper floor, looking out at the passersby in the square. Another significant donation made during the time of Rana Bahadur Shah is the metal-plated head of Swet Bhairav near the Degutale Temple. It was donated during the festival of Indra Jatra in 1795, and continues to play a major role during the festival every year. This approximately twelve feet high face of Bhairav is concealed behind a latticed wooden screen for the rest of the year. The following this donation Rana Bahadur donated a huge bronze bell as an offering to the Goddess Taleju. Together with the beating of the huge drums donated by his son Girvan Yudha, the bell was rung every day during the daily ritual worship to the goddess. Later these instruments were also used as an alarm system. However, after the death of his beloved third wife Kanimati Devi due to smallpox, Rana Bahadur Shah turned mad with grief and had many images of gods and goddesses smashed including the Taleju statue and bell, and Sitala, the goddess of smallpox.
In 1908, a palace, Gaddi Durbar, was built using European architectural designs. The Rana Prime Ministers who had taken over the power but not the throne of the country from the Shahs Kings from 1846 to 1951 were highly influenced by European styles. The Gaddi Durbar is covered in white plaster, has Greek columns and adjoins a large audience hall, all foreign features to Nepali architecture. The balconies of this durbar were reserved for the royal family during festivals to view the square below.
Some of the parts of the square like the Hatti Chok near the Kumari Bahal in the southern section of the square were removed during restoration after the devastating earthquake in 1934. While building the New Road, the southeastern part of the palace was cleared away, leaving only fragments in places as reminders of their past. Though decreased from its original size and attractiveness from its earlier seventeenth-century architecture, the Kathmandu Durbar Square still displays an ancient surrounding that spans abound five acres of land. It has palaces, temples, quadrangles, courtyards, ponds, and images that were brought together over three centuries of the Malla, the Shah, and the Rana dynasties. It was destroyed in the April 2015 Nepal earthquake.
VISITING
Kathmandu's Durbar Square is the site of the Hanuman Dhoka Palace Complex, which was the royal Nepalese residence until the 19th century and where important ceremonies, such as the coronation of the Nepalese monarch, took place. The palace is decorated with elaborately-carved wooden windows and panels and houses the King Tribhuwan Memorial Museum and the Mahendra Museum. It is possible to visit the state rooms inside the palace.
Time and again the temples and the palaces in the square have gone through reconstruction after being damaged by natural causes or neglect. Presently there are less than ten quadrangles in the square. The temples are being preserved as national heritage sites and the palace is being used as a museum. Only a few parts of the palace are open for visitors and the Taleju temples are only open for people of Hindu and Buddhist faiths.
At the southern end of Durbar Square is one of the most curious attractions in Nepal, the Kumari Chok. This gilded cage contains the Raj Kumari, a girl chosen through an ancient and mystical selection process to become the human incarnation of the Hindu mother goddess, Durga. She is worshiped during religious festivals and makes public appearances at other times for a fee paid to her guards.
WIKIPEDIA
The light here was about as weird as it's possible for light to be. A terrifyingly bright sun was pretty much right behind me, but the clouds were dark and ominous. The rainbow's colours were bright and clear, and this photo is posted unprocessed (flaws and all).
The Devil plays organ in Hell.
A haunted and demoniac organ.
Playing a music so terrifying some get deaf on the spot. Or mad. Or dead.
The devil doesn't play Bach or Mozart.
He prefers strange and creepy adaptations of the Rolling Stones or Black Sabbath.
On raconte que le Diable joue de l'orgue en enfer.
Un vieil orgue hanté et maudit.
Sa musique est si terrifiante que l'on devient sourdingue sur le champ. Ou mortellement touché.
Le diable ne joue pas de Mozart ou de Bach.
Il préfère des étranges et flippantes adaptations des Rolling Stones ou de Black Sabbath.
Cathédrale Notre-Dame, Luxembourg
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Future Vision.
PlayStation - Portraits
London
Uk
2016/05/11
An extra special thanks to everyone in front of the cameras and behind the scenes during a tough but enjoyable 72 hours of pure PSVR filming fun. Amazing work everyone, you all rock. I can’t wait to see the results.
Behind the scenes production stills taken using the terrifyingly accurate Eye-AF mode on the A7R2 with the beautiful Zeiss Batis 85mm f/1.8 lens.
#PlayStation #PSVR #Territory #Shoot #Models #Portraits #Portrait #Faces #Eyes #Zeiss #Batis #85mm #ZeissBatis #London #EyeAF #Sony #SonyA7R2 #A7R2 #SonyA7RII #A7RII #SonyAlpha #SonyPhotography #SonyImages #Lightroom6.5 #LR6 #ナイジャルレイモンド #monochrome #blackandwhite #VSCOfilm #VSCO #TRI-X #VSCOTRI-X #NigalRaymond #www.nigal-raymond.com
Alan Lake Factori(e) - LE CRI DES MÉDUSES
mailchi.mp/a366609a9847/alan-lake-factorie?e=4fad4373a7
(FR) Après Là-bas, le lointain, Ravages et Les caveaux, Alan Lake poursuit son approche multidisciplinaire en faisant dialoguer son langage chorégraphique et sa sensibilité aux arts visuels dans une pièce pour 9 danseurs et un musicien «live.
Inspiré par Le Radeau de la Méduse de Géricault et l’état d’urgence vécu par les naufragés dans la célèbre peinture.
Le cri des méduses prend place dans un lieu inventé afin de nous propulser dans un onirisme terrifiant.
Une danse physique à fleur de peau comme un rituel païen, bousculée par les images d’une scénographie puissante.
Le cri des méduses est un rêve éveillé, une danse de (sur)vie.
(EN) After Là-bas, le lointain, Ravages et Les caveaux, Alan Lake continues to develop his multidisciplinary approach by engaging his choreographic language and sensitivity to visual arts in a play for 9 dancers and a live musician, inspired by Géricault’s Le Radeau de la Méduse and the state of emergency experienced by the shipwrecked people in the famous painting.
Le Cri des Méduses takes place in an invented place, thrusting us into a terrifying dream-fantasy—an edgy physical dance like a pagan ritual, jolted by the images of a powerful scenography.
Le Cri des Méduses is a waking dream, a dance of life, of survival.
CRÉDIT
Création : Alan Lake
Chorégraphie : Alan Lake, avec la complicité des interprètes.
Interprétation : Josiane Bernier, Kimberley de Jong, Jean-Benoit Labrecque, Louis-Elyan Martin, Odile-Amélie Peters, Fabien Piché, David Rancourt, Geneviève Robitaille et Esther Rousseau-Morin
Musique : Antoine Berthiaume
Lumières : Karine Gauthier
Répétition : Annie Gagnon (Montréal)
Scénographie : Marilène Bastien et Alan Lake
Costumes: Marilène Bastien
Photos : David Wong / Vanessa Fortin (Vanessa Fortin Photographie)
Direction de production: André Houle, Centre de Création O Vertigo – CCOV
Direction technique : Antoine Caron
Producteur délégué : Centre de Création O Vertigo – CCOV (Montréal)
Une production d’Alan Lake Factori(e) en coproduction avec Danse Danse, le Centre de Création O Vertigo – CCOV (Montréal)
Support en résidence de création : Place des Arts, La Rotonde, La Maison pour la danse et Danse à la Carte
Agents: Brent Belsher (Belsherarts Management) et Mickaël Spinnhirny (Agence Mickaël Spinnhirny)
The terrifyingly talented @thekatmonster (@katmonsterart) recently brought this soul-sucking clown look to town.
paulannegelhoff.myportfolio.com/
@paulannegelhoff
happy holidays from muni & why life-after-death theories are societal dangers that allow USURERS to abuse other people, scott richard
PRESS PLAY
wishful thinking
wilco
one of the saddest things about the majority of the human population is their belief in "life after death."
it's bad enough that so many weak-minded people already believe that a virgin had a baby. there is something psychotic in this INCREDIBLY SILLY scenario.
especially when we all fundamentally know that the odds of virgin birth are MYTHICAL.
but ATHENA beat mary to the punch.
and she sprang FULLY FORMED from ZEUS' forehead.
plus, you don't have to be a genius to figure out that "child of god" was a contemporary vernacularism for BASTARD OFFSPRING.
even the allegedly associated prophecies xians site from isaiah indicate that the "messiah" will be born from the lowest place in society...
but xians can't handle GROWN UP SEXUAL POLITICKS. it's just one of their intellectual failures.
and it is from this SEXUAL IMMATURITY that xianity develops its neo-imperialism.
the bastard child becomes triumphant by being deified. and then you make up stories about the mysterious birth. it becomes the fundament.
but is this really a great role model for civil society?
it sounds like a rocknroll suicide to me.
and it leaves women in the position of whore or mother, which must be so boring. who wouldn't want to be both if you only had two choices?
but, i've known a bunch of whores who became mothers. or, as i sadly say, we used to be friends, now they're boring as fk. i'm kidding, they were all sort of weirdly asexual if i'm being honest. the women i knew who slept around a lot more did end up single and childless. sexual contact teaches us many, many things about life that sexual inexperience never will. another good reason why the sexually inexperienced should listen to the sexually experienced. experience is not indecipherable, but the way it changes people is permanent. and discussion is the easiest way to share experiences without having the experience. so i'm a fan of a lot more discussion. too many people are sexually immature and believe that sexual maturity is a moral issue instead of a PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL issue. they don't understand that abstinence and frigidity and disconnection is PHYSICALLY AND SPIRITUALLY worse than debauchery and disease. and admittedly, it does seem like there are intuitive and counter-intuitive forces at play.
but shying away from the forces is DIRECT social yielding. it is protective and an outgrowth of fear and cowardice. it ELIMINATES opportunity and positive growth with its expectations and presets. abstinence, frigidity and disconnection are all signs of abuse, infractions and shame. they are TOTALLY NORMAL in the united states' framework of acceptable sexual roles. many religious operating systems hijack personal sexuality and force it into the community decision making process.
some call it repression, but it is a forced hostility onto the spirit of sexuality and NON-SEXUAL relationshipping. it is an ATTACK against people, not a repression of something.
it has LONG TERM GOALS in mind, though so many of the true lessons of human sexuality teach us that LONG TERM GOALS = SLAVERY and monetized behavioral systems of control and restriction. we have almost EVERY human civilization with records to demonstrate this consistency.
and from this deep SICKNESS of spirit and physicality, HOMOLOATHING is fostered by the debt givers, our dear friends who give loans to family cycle logic -- homes and education & their insurance/health scam buddies who sell security and promises of safety.
so let's not pretend that these things called ABSTINENCE, FRIGIDITY and DISCONNECTION aren't HOSTILE ANTI-HUMAN FORCES. and they are currently allowed to do whatever they want even in the wake of such terrible children who are being force-fed poisons that will indebt them PHYSICALLY AND SPIRITUALLY to the vampire health system.
and a great french playwright crafted a fine play about it called TARTUFFE. it alleged that there is NOTHING WORSE than an aging hypocrite who has cheated and lied their way through life.
way to go bill cosby and all your fellow like -- you are far too numerous to count -- but you get the TARTUFFE award this decade for all the decades of work you did.
though i suppose, instead we should champion the very few men who haven't done the same...
and let's not forget a huuuuuuuuuge congrats to all the women along the way who helped cosby and trump become the legends they are right now and for a bit on how they will be known in a decade or so.
ah, sex and experience lead the man into temptation. but how many of the women loved it and wanted it and haven't spoken up about it?? GOT THE JOB BECAUSE OF IT!!!!!! THAT'S WHY THEY MAKE YOU SUCK DCK, DUMMY. SO THEY CAN TELL EVERYONE LATER.
SO HONESTLY, how many women haven't stood up and said, hey i sucked. i did it.== way too many fking women sucked and won't admit it. they GENERATED THE SAME CRASS STRUGGLE, lol. it was a two-way sex communion. just like usury. the powerful indebt the weak through promises and promotions/loans.
[trump blows loudly!!]
those who never sucked, please stand over here...
[the room remained motionless, not a single person moved, man or woman.]
besides, the way liars and cheaters work, cosby will get roasted and reinstated by 2030. but people like this make shtty husbands and the social battering their women take can't be good for any economic level of society.
call me SINIKAL if you like, but there is the obvious "life beyond hashtag" HER 3 moment. or, if people actually still waste time tweeting in a year or two, if will just be the #HER3 movement. you're welcome.
and i'll never understand why women put up with their lousy husbands or vice versa. and i don't like to be reminded of these unions.
some of these lady "friends" still call me up every year to get my mailing address so they can show off their family accomplishments each year -- the xmas card somehow the symbol of their year long creativity.
but somehow i can't help noticing that that fantastic ALBUM or PAINTING or POEM or NOVEL never got made and that these women were never going to become the person they so devoutly claimed they were going to be when we chose a friendship together.
and i was INTENTIONALLY biased. i literally CHOSE my friends based on their desire to propagate and create a family. if they were going in that direction, i parted ways. i grew up on hip hop and the first rule of hip hop is NEVER DATE A SINGLE MOM. if you cross translate this to reason, the embedded information can be decoded:
women with children will almost always prioritize their relationships AFTER their kids. kids get top billing.
and if they don't, that's almost worst, literally. it's a more fkt up situation if they don't really like their kids.
second, this prioritization precedes any relationship no matter what the historical longevity or nature of the association.
third, you won't get anything out it because it's a lopsided amago.
and men were way more into the idea of doing it so i ended up knowing a lot of women instead who were ADAMANTLY against bearing adam's seed. they were violently opposed to motherhood and the way it would steal their lives.
then, one-by-one, they all got knocked up or stalked husbands or finally said yes to the one guy who wouldn't stop bothering them. which was very" 1:30 a.m. in the bar", if you know what i mean. it was random and unprepared bipolar fk-uppery if you can imagine. these ladies just seemed to grab the most available dude around and bang out a carbon copy of themself.
terrifyingly for me, some of them even tried to use my seed or hit me up sexually. talk about a "friendship" shifter...
but i rode with the bipolar shift for several years with each of these women -- feeling more and more like an overgrown male cheerleader at a nursery school basketball game on a wednesday afternoon. and as time went on, it became clear that i would never get to hang out solo with any of them again until they had made it through their children's childhoods.
it became obvious since i knew so many women who were stricken so suddenly with this permanent and transformative condition people call motherhood. it was a slavery and they were trying to drag me through it with them, each with their own clever ways of masking their loss of freedom and associations with other sane adults.
each of them had self-generated these games that they would play and it altered their dance of social connection with everyone they had known before. for example, they would only reach out when they needed an "escape" from the drudgery. weirdly, they were in no mood or condition to actually escape. so their "reaching out" effort was more than a cry for help. it was a misery that they wanted to share with someone else who wasn't miserable. and that is grounds for boredom and rejection and resentment and disconnection.
they were ALL beat down and dumbed out by the mind-numbing effects of a "CONSTANT NEED" addition that was suddenly at the center of their new lifestyle. this hardly stopped ANY of them from filling out the cycle by having another child within two years of the first child. lucky for their generation they had the know-how to get the crawler walking before the new infant is born.
when i had lived in santa fe, new mexico, my partner had several girlfriends who also swore they were never having babies. one of them had just succumbed to the LATE BIRTHING DISORDER and had popped out a precious little copy of herself. she was the first person i watched going through this cycle.
and it was new for me to "be there" for someone who was socially plagued by a living creature. i've known "pet people" who have to constantly talk about their relationship with an animal like it's a person and chose them and aren't they so great because a dog or a cat tolerates them... and i generally terminate these relationships.
bestiality is a much greater sin than the RED MEAT INDUSTRY would want you to believe. it isn't just about having sex with animals. bestiality at its more immature and shallow and stupid state is PEOPLE HAVING SEX WITH ANIMALS. but the actual economic and social aspects of bestiality are what really led to the laws against what applies to the 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of humanity which doesn't have sex with animals!!!!!
so let's start with basic definitions:
bestiality is when you become actively involved in the reproduction SEX cycle of an animal. this includes spaying/neutering, any kind of fertility enhancement or hormones or antibiotics.
bestiality is an ancient idea that forbids the enslavement of animals and the control of their reproduction cycle.
i didn't make this up. like i said, it's FKING ANCIENT.
anyway, pets and the ownership of pets is BESTIALITY. and i'm not blaming or judging, i'm just pointing out that there is a A LOT OF MODERN DELUSION about what bestiality is.
anyway, being a mom with a living creature that you made is life changing. in our society we naively believe that this is a change ALL women who give birth should go through.
whatta fking joke!!!
that is a lie made up by a bank clerk or a school don or a car salesman.
i can picture a world in which the beautiful and amazingly talented women i used to know before they had babies and made babies such a portion of their lives were allowed to become the women they were becoming.
instead, their family development decisions beat the crp out of them. and still do.
i finally told one of them (she has no idea that i know no so many cookie clone cut outs of her that made the same disastrous decision to hijack motherhood) that she didn't need to send me xmas cards since i'm not a xian and i don't believe in santa claus. nor do i give a fk about her life. and i know this is hard for her, but she didn't give a fk about her life either.
she acted like a man acts when he needs to blow a load and it gets so bad he's gonna almost rape his way into getting rid of the energy. and there's something sadly animalistic about this that defies our "social contracts" about being "human".
but why should women have to pay for this with the rest of their lives?
or rather, maybe women should stop FAKING like they can escape this syndrome that settles on them as the "biological clock" starts ticking in their heads.
in my opinion, fake monogamy and the family engineering FRONT that is currently in place works great for cheaters, liars and usurers.
but is it good for the OFFSPRING?
do the offspring benefit from being in these tense families of future divorce? the shotgun wedding was more like an AK47 showdown where the man was hunted down like prey. and in each case, the relationship wasn't the actual motivation for the union. it was babies.
and maybe giving birth to babies makes people wish they could live forever.
maybe there is just something so precious about having a baby. i've heard men and women both proclaim arrogantly that there is no deeper love or union than holding your own little creation.
but these are the same people who can take no note of the wall of beauty that is life which is always surrounding us. they perhaps needed the responsibility of another life to find meaning in their own existence, to find love within themself.
after a very strange showdown in 2009 with one of these ladies, i began to retract myself from these relationships. worse, i began to see them in similarity. you know how it is when something is happening and there are a myriad of sources and reasons and predicaments for which things can be attributed.
then the mirror effect begins to happen and you start to see that it is the "condition" that is creating the effect, not the people involved. the people involved are adversely affected by the condition, but they can't control it or bypass or reroute and relocate. i mean you can try. you can set aside time and make an effort to preserve "what you had.".
but what i had with all of these ladies was a fun and frolicking friendship based on getting out into the world and bouncing around and making contact with the unknown and the unfamiliar. having adventures!!! that's why one should go outside, imo.
instead, there would be kid-sits where you go with kids and sit somewhere while your girlfriend tries her best to pay attention to anything besides the kids. which she invariably can't and then becomes disappointed in herself and the condition, which as i've mentioned can't be changed unless you can make time to see your "friends" without your kids.
but even when that works, the human mind is relentless and the mother constantly circles back to the most prominent issues in her world -- her kids.
you can see quite clearly how LIFE AFTE DEATH could be a waking fantasy for people caught in this nightmare of joyous parenting.
you can see how they would lie to everyone and start to cheat on each other and fk around. you can see how the RISK of losing everything could become a secret addiction. and you can flip the coin and say, "yeah, the dad's prolly cheating on you already..." sheesh, i can't tell you the number of straight dudes having sex with gays. i started asking upfront so that i didn't waste my time crutching those losers, "so, are you married or cheating on anyone?" it made me feel like a loser for having to ask, but it sure saves time not having to listed to those sorry ass men married to women and so bored of them.
i say this because sometimes when your biological clock is ticking you can accidentally marry a gay guy who is too afraid to come out of the closet. i know someone like that. maybe two people. and before i made my "no married men" rule for casual sex, i won't even tell you the number of married men i've gone on "coffee dates" with... and 75% of them were misleading about their situation in one way or another so it was something i found out about later, further down the line after more of these "infidelities" had passed between us -- as a true american i don't support any kind of marriage. so i used to not care about people's marital status in anyway. i remained neutral and mostly unknowing. it was generally something that would be talked about later during future encounters. but over time, i realized that it wasn't my behavior that mattered as much as it was how my behavior aided-and-abetted their behavior -- cheating and lying on everyone ironically, the one person it didn't seem like the person was cheating with was me, which was a "known lie" right up front.
but again, not really my problem. i wasn't looking for any kind of relationship. just a non-solo sexual event.
an athletic romp, not a history lesson.
and i know for a FACT that any real man deals with this messed up paradigm for decades of their life. the inner rapist is a sexual energy that talks to us like the spirits of alcohol can talk or the addictive demons can speak. but this isn't religious if you cut open a body and see that which you should never see --
the inner workings/animals within us.
there's all this inner life going on with its own rules of exchange and commerce and distribution that is oddly reminiscent of the same rules of exchange and commerce and distribution that we use between our own kind.
but for a man, when he's sexually raging, the insanity of sexual deprivation can scream louder than all moral codes or manners or sensibilities. perhaps religions come out of this very seminal and ontological idea -- man is the rapist. women are to be raped.
seems weird to me, but i'm weird to everyone.
yes, i think REAL DOLLS will be a WORLDWIDE game changer and if i was in it to win it i would be figuring out how to buy into ABYSS stock or get lined up to buy them ASAP because they or whomever buys them will kick start the revolution. once REAL DOLLS are in distribution, autokar will get abundant go-aheads. the SHEER REDUCTION OF MALE MENTAL SEXUAL INSTABILITY will be noticeable everywhere.
and after that, women will lose their STRANGULATING sexhold over men and the hostile force of marriage will lift off of us at the same time that the spirit of USURY becomes more visible and EXTRACTABLE.
like a poison, it will be removed -- no longer controlling our SEX ORGANS AND REPRODUCTION cycles and agendas.
we will care for things differently when this oppression is ended/relieved. and the shame will lift.
so i guess if we're being honest, doesn't it seem like CHEATING AND INFIDELITY are the most obvious outcomes of monogamy? this often will start even before the child breeding part starts. divorce is typical solution at some point in the cycle. often when the children leave the home.
how much human awesomeness is LOST in this process?
how much human creativity is LOST in this process.
how many LITERAL years of these women's lives were devoted to the strange practice of INDEPENDENT CHILD REARING?
and don't we all know for a FACT that independent child rearing has disastrous effects on the children? especially children who suffer from too much attention, too little attention, too little resources, too many resources, too many disadvantages like PSYCHOTIC PARENTS and their friends or too few advantages like only ONE psychotic parent, bad schools, bad neighborhoods, bad opportunities and access to life threatening drugs and diseases.
as an american, i do wonder if fellow americans realize that it is the AMERiCAN DUTY to make sure that those disadvantages don't end up on the shoulders of american children.
lastly, let's not forget that it is the USURERS who benefit the most from the after-life theory.
after-life theories help to create the ZERO point in life theories.
but there is no ZERO point. this is abstract drivel. it's literally a PLACE CARD to demark a grammar construction problem. there is no way to "account" for everything.
the usurers know this and have skirted that issue by creating a ZERO POINT in time construct.
so many people are seduced by these false abstract concepts in the same way that they are seduced by santa claus and "death with headphones".
neither of these things "exist" but they have taken on physical form nonetheless.
in money loans and profiteering, the heist works the same way. if you can establish a ZERO point, you can create DEBT and PUNISHMENT for not paying DEBT.
this is transactional theology when it comes to "religions". and most religions are about transacting with others. religious texts provide transactional codes of social behavior and responsibiilities.
i'm not sure why religions get preference in this country anymore. the original ideas were FREEDOM FROM OTHER PEOPLE'S RELIGIOUS VIEWS, not FREEDOM TO HAVE ANY RELIGIOUS VIEWS YOU WANT. and this is used against our VAST population compared with the scarcity of the founding father population.
and still, today, we need freedom from RELIGION's codes and conducts. and people who are religious need to decide if they are AMERICANS first. if they aren't, they don't belong in this country. and this is hard because we have religious/cult groups who form their own economic empires in this country. and it's been allowed to expand, outside investors are seeing how these "religious" groups have used these NONEXISTENT LOOPHOLES ("loopholes" about things which are merely unmentioned and therefore NO RULING is translated by exploiters into a legal crooks' festival until the slow moving litigators catch up, but EVERYONE KNOWS that these aren't "loopholes". it's just more people cheating on others.)
but maybe you shouldn't worry so much about all of this.
you'll do better in the next world...
The octopus (plural octopuses) is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (/ɒkˈtɒpədə/, ok-TO-pə-də). Around 300 species are recognised, and the order is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like other cephalopods, the octopus is bilaterally symmetric with two eyes and a beak, with its mouth at the center point of the eight limbs.[a] The soft body can rapidly alter its shape, enabling octopuses to squeeze through small gaps. They trail their eight appendages behind them as they swim. The siphon is used both for respiration and for locomotion, by expelling a jet of water. Octopuses have a complex nervous system and excellent sight, and are among the most intelligent and behaviourally diverse of all invertebrates.
Octopuses inhabit various regions of the ocean, including coral reefs, pelagic waters, and the seabed; some live in the intertidal zone and others at abyssal depths. Most species grow quickly, mature early, and are short-lived. In most species, the male uses a specially adapted arm to deliver a bundle of sperm directly into the female's mantle cavity, after which he becomes senescent and dies, while the female deposits fertilised eggs in a den and cares for them until they hatch, after which she also dies. Strategies to defend themselves against predators include the expulsion of ink, the use of camouflage and threat displays, the ability to jet quickly through the water and hide, and even deceit. All octopuses are venomous, but only the blue-ringed octopuses are known to be deadly to humans.
Octopuses appear in mythology as sea monsters like the Kraken of Norway and the Akkorokamui of the Ainu, and probably the Gorgon of ancient Greece. A battle with an octopus appears in Victor Hugo's book Toilers of the Sea, inspiring other works such as Ian Fleming's Octopussy. Octopuses appear in Japanese erotic art, shunga. They are eaten and considered a delicacy by humans in many parts of the world, especially the Mediterranean and the Asian seas.
ETYMOLOGY AND PLURALISATION
The scientific Latin term octopus was derived from Ancient Greek ὀκτώπους, a compound form of ὀκτώ (oktō, "eight") and πούς (pous, "foot"), itself a variant form of ὀκτάπους, a word used for example by Alexander of Tralles (c. 525–605) for the common octopus. The standard pluralised form of "octopus" in English is "octopuses"; the Ancient Greek plural ὀκτώποδες, "octopodes" (/ɒkˈtɒpədiːz/), has also been used historically. The alternative plural "octopi" is considered grammatically incorrect because it wrongly assumes that octopus is a Latin second declension "-us" noun or adjective when, in either Greek or Latin, it is a third declension noun.
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that the only acceptable plural in English is "octopuses", that "octopi" is misconceived, and "octopodes" pedantic; the latter is nonetheless used frequently enough to be acknowledged by the descriptivist Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary and Webster's New World College Dictionary. The Oxford English Dictionary lists "octopuses", "octopi", and "octopodes", in that order, reflecting frequency of use, calling "octopodes" rare and noting that "octopi" is based on a misunderstanding. The New Oxford American Dictionary (3rd Edition, 2010) lists "octopuses" as the only acceptable pluralisation, and indicates that "octopodes" is still occasionally used, but that "octopi" is incorrect.
ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY
SIZE
The giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) is often cited as the largest known octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg, with an arm span of up to 4.3 m. The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg. Much larger sizes have been claimed for the giant Pacific octopus: one specimen was recorded as 272 kg with an arm span of 9 m. A carcass of the seven-arm octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, weighed 61 kg and was estimated to have had a live mass of 75 kg. The smallest species is Octopus wolfi, which is around 2.5 cm and weighs less than 1 g.
EXTERNAL CHARACTERISTICS
The octopus is bilaterally symmetrical along its dorso-ventral axis; the head and foot are at one end of an elongated body and function as the anterior (front) of the animal. The head includes the mouth and brain. The foot has evolved into a set of flexible, prehensile appendages, known as "arms", that surround the mouth and are attached to each other near their base by a webbed structure. The arms can be described based on side and sequence position (such as L1, R1, L2, R2) and divided into four pairs. The two rear appendages are generally used to walk on the sea floor, while the other six are used to forage for food; hence some biologists refer to the animals as having six "arms" and two "legs". The bulbous and hollow mantle is fused to the back of the head and is known as the visceral hump; it contains most of the vital organs. The mantle cavity has muscular walls and contains the gills; it is connected to the exterior by a funnel or siphon. The mouth of an octopus, located underneath the arms, has a sharp hard beak.
The skin consists of a thin outer epidermis with mucous cells and sensory cells, and a connective tissue dermis consisting largely of collagen fibres and various cells allowing colour change. Most of the body is made of soft tissue allowing it to lengthen, contract, and contort itself. The octopus can squeeze through tiny gaps; even the larger species can pass through an opening close to 2.5 cm in diameter. Lacking skeletal support, the arms work as muscular hydrostats and contain longitudinal, transverse and circular muscles around a central axial nerve. They can extend and contract, twist to left or right, bend at any place in any direction or be held rigid.
The interior surfaces of the arms are covered with circular, adhesive suckers. The suckers allow the octopus to anchor itself or to manipulate objects. Each sucker is usually circular and bowl-like and has two distinct parts: an outer shallow cavity called an infundibulum and a central hollow cavity called an acetabulum, both of which are thick muscles covered in a protective chitinous cuticle. When a sucker attaches to a surface, the orifice between the two structures is sealed. The infundibulum provides adhesion while the acetabulum remains free, and muscle contractions allow for attachment and detachment.
The eyes of the octopus are large and are at the top of the head. They are similar in structure to those of a fish and are enclosed in a cartilaginous capsule fused to the cranium. The cornea is formed from a translucent epidermal layer and the slit-shaped pupil forms a hole in the iris and lies just behind. The lens is suspended behind the pupil and photoreceptive retinal cells cover the back of the eye. The pupil can be adjusted in size and a retinal pigment screens incident light in bright conditions.Some species differ in form from the typical octopus body shape. Basal species, the Cirrina, have stout gelatinous bodies with webbing that reaches near the tip of their arms, and two large fins above the eyes, supported by an internal shell. Fleshy papillae or cirri are found along the bottom of the arms, and the eyes are more developed.
CIRCULATORY SYSTEM
Octopuses have a closed circulatory system, in which the blood remains inside blood vessels. Octopuses have three hearts; a systemic heart that circulates blood around the body and two branchial hearts that pump it through each of the two gills. The systemic heart is inactive when the animal is swimming and thus it tires quickly and prefers to crawl. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein haemocyanin to transport oxygen. This makes the blood very viscous and it requires considerable pressure to pump it around the body; octopuses' blood pressures can exceed 75 mmHg. In cold conditions with low oxygen levels, haemocyanin transports oxygen more efficiently than haemoglobin. The haemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within blood cells, and gives the blood a bluish colour.
The systemic heart has muscular contractile walls and consists of a single ventricle and two atria, one for each side of the body. The blood vessels consist of arteries, capillaries and veins and are lined with a cellular endothelium which is quite unlike that of most other invertebrates. The blood circulates through the aorta and capillary system, to the vena cavae, after which the blood is pumped through the gills by the auxiliary hearts and back to the main heart. Much of the venous system is contractile, which helps circulate the blood.
RESPIRATION
Respiration involves drawing water into the mantle cavity through an aperture, passing it through the gills, and expelling it through the siphon. The ingress of water is achieved by contraction of radial muscles in the mantle wall, and flapper valves shut when strong circular muscles force the water out through the siphon. Extensive connective tissue lattices support the respiratory muscles and allow them to expand the respiratory chamber. The lamella structure of the gills allows for a high oxygen uptake, up to 65% in water at 20 °C. Water flow over the gills correlates with locomotion, and an octopus can propel its body when it expels water out of its siphon.
The thin skin of the octopus absorbs additional oxygen. When resting, around 41% of an octopus's oxygen absorption is through the skin. This decreases to 33% when it swims, as more water flows over the gills; skin oxygen uptake also increases. When it is resting after a meal, absorption through the skin can drop to 3% of its total oxygen uptake.
DIGESTION AND EXCRETION
The digestive system of the octopus begins with the buccal mass which consists of the mouth with its chitinous beak, the pharynx, radula and salivary glands. The radula is a spiked, muscular tongue-like organ with multiple rows of tiny teeth. Food is broken down and is forced into the oesophagus by two lateral extensions of the esophageal side walls in addition to the radula. From there it is transferred to the gastrointestinal tract, which is mostly suspended from the roof of the mantle cavity by numerous membranes. The tract consists of a crop, where the food is stored; a stomach, where food is ground down; a caecum where the now sludgy food is sorted into fluids and particles and which plays an important role in absorption; the digestive gland, where liver cells break down and absorb the fluid and become "brown bodies"; and the intestine, where the accumulated waste is turned into faecal ropes by secretions and blown out of the funnel via the rectum.
During osmoregulation, fluid is added to the pericardia of the branchial hearts. The octopus has two nephridia (equivalent to vertebrate kidneys) which are associated with the branchial hearts; these and their associated ducts connect the pericardial cavities with the mantle cavity. Before reaching the branchial heart, each branch of the vena cava expands to form renal appendages which are in direct contact with the thin-walled nephridium. The urine is first formed in the pericardial cavity, and is modified by excretion, chiefly of ammonia, and selective absorption from the renal appendages, as it is passed along the associated duct and through the nephridiopore into the mantle cavity.
NERVOUS SYSTEM AND SENSES
The octopus (along with cuttlefish) has the highest brain-to-body mass ratios of all invertebrates; it is also greater than that of many vertebrates. It has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localised in its brain, which is contained in a cartilaginous capsule. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which show a variety of complex reflex actions that persist even when they have no input from the brain. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses are not organised in their brain via an internal somatotopic map of its body, instead using a nonsomatotopic system unique to large-brained invertebrates.
Like other cephalopods, octopuses can distinguish the polarisation of light. Colour vision appears to vary from species to species, for example being present in O. aegina but absent in O. vulgaris. Researchers believe that opsins in the skin can sense different wavelengths of light and help the creatures choose a coloration that camouflages them, in addition to light input from the eyes. Other researchers hypothesise that cephalopod eyes in species which only have a single photoreceptor protein may use chromatic aberration to turn monochromatic vision into colour vision, though this sacrifices image quality. This would explain pupils shaped like the letter U, the letter W, or a dumbbell, as well as explaining the need for colourful mating displays.
Attached to the brain are two special organs called statocysts (sac-like structures containing a mineralised mass and sensitive hairs), that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body. They provide information on the position of the body relative to gravity and can detect angular acceleration. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil is always horizontal. Octopuses may also use the statocyst to hear sound. The common octopus can hear sounds between 400 Hz and 1000 Hz, and hears best at 600 Hz.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. The octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so the octopus can taste what it touches. Octopus arms do not become tangled or stuck to each other because the sensors recognise octopus skin and prevent self-attachment.
The arms contain tension sensors so the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out, but this is not sufficient for the brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. The neurological autonomy of the arms means the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. It has a poor proprioceptive sense, and it knows what exact motions were made only by observing the arms visually.
Ink sac
The ink sac of an octopus is located under the digestive gland. A gland attached to the sac produces the ink, and the sac stores it. The sac is close enough to the funnel for the octopus to shoot out the ink with a water jet. Before it leaves the funnel, the ink passes through glands which mix it with mucus, creating a thick, dark blob which allows the animal to escape from a predator. The main pigment in the ink is melanin, which gives it its black colour. Cirrate octopuses lack the ink sac.
LIFECYCLE
REPRODUCTION
Octopuses are gonochoric and have a single, posteriorly-located gonad which is associated with the coelom. The testis in males and the ovary in females bulges into the gonocoel and the gametes are released here. The gonocoel is connected by the gonoduct to the mantle cavity, which it enters at the gonopore. An optic gland creates hormones that cause the octopus to mature and age and stimulate gamete production. The gland may be triggered by environmental conditions such as temperature, light and nutrition, which thus control the timing of reproduction and lifespan.
When octopuses reproduce, the male uses a specialised arm called a hectocotylus to transfer spermatophores (packets of sperm) from the terminal organ of the reproductive tract (the cephalopod "penis") into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm, which has a spoon-shaped depression and modified suckers near the tip. In most species, fertilisation occurs in the mantle cavity.
The reproduction of octopuses has been studied in only a few species. One such species is the giant Pacific octopus, in which courtship is accompanied, especially in the male, by changes in skin texture and colour. The male may cling to the top or side of the female or position himself beside her. There is some speculation that he may first use his hectocotylus to remove any spermatophore or sperm already present in the female. He picks up a spermatophore from his spermatophoric sac with the hectocotylus, inserts it into the female's mantle cavity, and deposits it in the correct location for the species, which in the giant Pacific octopus is the opening of the oviduct. Two spermatophores are transferred in this way; these are about one metre (yard) long, and the empty ends may protrude from the female's mantle. A complex hydraulic mechanism releases the sperm from the spermatophore, and it is stored internally by the female.
About forty days after mating, the female giant Pacific octopus attaches strings of small fertilised eggs (10,000 to 70,000 in total) to rocks in a crevice or under an overhang. Here she guards and cares for them for about five months (160 days) until they hatch. In colder waters, such as those off of Alaska, it may take as much as 10 months for the eggs to completely develop. The female aerates the eggs and keeps them clean; if left untended, many eggs will not hatch. She does not feed during this time and dies soon afterwards. Males become senescent and die a few weeks after mating.
The eggs have large yolks; cleavage (division) is superficial and a germinal disc develops at the pole. During gastrulation, the margins of this grow down and surround the yolk, forming a yolk sac, which eventually forms part of the gut. The dorsal side of the disc grows upwards and forms the embryo, with a shell gland on its dorsal surface, gills, mantle and eyes. The arms and funnel develop as part of the foot on the ventral side of the disc. The arms later migrate upwards, coming to form a ring around the funnel and mouth. The yolk is gradually absorbed as the embryo develops.
Most young octopuses hatch as paralarvae and are planktonic for weeks to months, depending on the species and water temperature. They feed on copepods, arthropod larvae and other zooplankton, eventually settling on the ocean floor and developing directly into adults with no distinct metamorphoses that are present in other groups of mollusc larvae. Octopus species that produce larger eggs – including the southern blue-ringed, Caribbean reef, California two-spot, Eledone moschata and deep sea octopuses – do not have a paralarval stage, but hatch as benthic animals similar to the adults.In the argonaut (paper nautilus), the female secretes a fine, fluted, papery shell in which the eggs are deposited and in which she also resides while floating in mid-ocean. In this she broods the young, and it also serves as a buoyancy aid allowing her to adjust her depth. The male argonaut is minute by comparison and has no shell.
LIFESPAN
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy; some species live for as little as six months. The giant Pacific octopus, one of the two largest species of octopus, may live for as much as five years. Octopus lifespan is limited by reproduction: males can live for only a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. The larger Pacific striped octopus is an exception, as it can reproduce multiple times over a life of around two years. Octopus reproductive organs mature due to the hormonal influence of the optic gland but result in the inactivation of their digestive glands, typically causing the octopus to die from starvation. Experimental removal of both optic glands after spawning was found to result in the cessation of broodiness, the resumption of feeding, increased growth, and greatly extended lifespans. It has been proposed that the naturally short lifespan may be functional to prevent rapid overpopulation.
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
Octopuses live in every ocean, and different species have adapted to different marine habitats. As juveniles, common octopuses inhabit shallow tide pools. The Hawaiian day octopus (Octopus cyanea) lives on coral reefs; argonauts drift in pelagic waters. Abdopus aculeatus mostly lives in near-shore seagrass beds. Some species are adapted to the cold, ocean depths. The spoon-armed octopus (Bathypolypus arcticus) is found at depths of 1,000 m, and Vulcanoctopus hydrothermalis lives near hydrothermal vents at 2,000 m. The cirrate species are often free-swimming and live in deep-water habitats. Although several species are known to live at bathyal and abyssal depths, there is only a single indisputable record of an octopus in the hadal zone; a species of Grimpoteuthis (dumbo octopus) photographed at 6,957 m. No species are known to live in fresh water.
BEHAVIOUR AND ECOLOGY
Most species are solitary when not mating, though a few are known to occur in high densities and with frequent interactions, signaling, mate defending and eviction of individuals from dens. This is likely the result of abundant food supplies combined with limited den sites. The larger Pacific striped octopus however is social, living in groups of up to 40 individuals that share dens. Octopuses hide in dens, which are typically crevices in rocky outcrops or other hard structures, though some species burrow into sand or mud. Octopuses are not territorial but generally remain in a home range; they may leave the area in search of food. They can use navigation skills to return to a den without having to retrace their outward route. They are not known to be migratory.
Octopuses bring captured prey back to the den where they can eat it safely. Sometimes the octopus catches more prey than it can eat, and the den is often surrounded by a midden of dead and uneaten food items. Other creatures, such as fish, crabs, molluscs and echinoderms, often share the den with the octopus, either because they have arrived as scavengers, or because they have survived capture. Octopuses rarely engage in interspecific cooperative hunting with fish as their partners. They regulate the species composition of the hunting group - and the behavior of their partners - by punching them.
FEEDING
Nearly all octopuses are predatory; bottom-dwelling octopuses eat mainly crustaceans, polychaete worms, and other molluscs such as whelks and clams; open-ocean octopuses eat mainly prawns, fish and other cephalopods. Major items in the diet of the giant Pacific octopus include bivalve molluscs such as the cockle Clinocardium nuttallii, clams and scallops and crustaceans such as crabs and spider crabs. Prey that it is likely to reject include moon snails because they are too large and limpets, rock scallops, chitons and abalone, because they are too securely fixed to the rock.
A benthic (bottom-dwelling) octopus typically moves among the rocks and feels through the crevices. The creature may make a jet-propelled pounce on prey and pull it towards the mouth with its arms, the suckers restraining it. Small prey may be completely trapped by the webbed structure. Octopuses usually inject crustaceans like crabs with a paralysing saliva then dismember them with their beaks. Octopuses feed on shelled molluscs either by forcing the valves apart, or by drilling a hole in the shell to inject a nerve toxin. It used to be thought that the hole was drilled by the radula, but it has now been shown that minute teeth at the tip of the salivary papilla are involved, and an enzyme in the toxic saliva is used to dissolve the calcium carbonate of the shell. It takes about three hours for O. vulgaris to create a 0.6 mm hole. Once the shell is penetrated, the prey dies almost instantaneously, its muscles relax, and the soft tissues are easy for the octopus to remove. Crabs may also be treated in this way; tough-shelled species are more likely to be drilled, and soft-shelled crabs are torn apart.
Some species have other modes of feeding. Grimpoteuthis has a reduced or non-existent radula and swallows prey whole. In the deep-sea genus Stauroteuthis, some of the muscle cells that control the suckers in most species have been replaced with photophores which are believed to fool prey by directing them towards the mouth, making them one of the few bioluminescent octopuses.
LOCOMOTION
Octopuses mainly move about by relatively slow crawling with some swimming in a head-first position. Jet propulsion or backwards swimming, is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and crawling. When in no hurry, they usually crawl on either solid or soft surfaces. Several arms are extended forwards, some of the suckers adhere to the substrate and the animal hauls itself forwards with its powerful arm muscles, while other arms may push rather than pull. As progress is made, other arms move ahead to repeat these actions and the original suckers detach. During crawling, the heart rate nearly doubles, and the animal requires ten or fifteen minutes to recover from relatively minor exercise.
Most octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from the mantle through the siphon into the sea. The physical principle behind this is that the force required to accelerate the water through the orifice produces a reaction that propels the octopus in the opposite direction. The direction of travel depends on the orientation of the siphon. When swimming, the head is at the front and the siphon is pointed backwards, but when jetting, the visceral hump leads, the siphon points towards the head and the arms trail behind, with the animal presenting a fusiform appearance. In an alternative method of swimming, some species flatten themselves dorso-ventrally, and swim with the arms held out sideways, and this may provide lift and be faster than normal swimming. Jetting is used to escape from danger, but is physiologically inefficient, requiring a mantle pressure so high as to stop the heart from beating, resulting in a progressive oxygen deficit.
Cirrate octopuses cannot produce jet propulsion and rely on their fins for swimming. They have neutral buoyancy and drift through the water with the fins extended. They can also contract their arms and surrounding web to make sudden moves known as "take-offs". Another form of locomotion is "pumping", which involves symmetrical contractions of muscles in their webs producing peristaltic waves. This moves the body slowly.
In 2005, Adopus aculeatus and veined octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) were found to walk on two arms, while at the same time mimicking plant matter. This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator without being recognised. A study of this behaviour led to the suggestion that the two rearmost appendages may be more accurately termed "legs" rather than "arms". Some species of octopus can crawl out of the water briefly, which they may do between tide pools while hunting crustaceans or gastropods or to escape predators. "Stilt walking" is used by the veined octopus when carrying stacked coconut shells. The octopus carries the shells underneath it with two arms, and progresses with an ungainly gait supported by its remaining arms held rigid.
INTELLIGENCE
Octopuses are highly intelligent; the extent of their intelligence and learning capability are not well defined. Maze and problem-solving experiments have shown evidence of a memory system that can store both short- and long-term memory. It is not known precisely what contribution learning makes to adult octopus behaviour. Young octopuses learn nothing from their parents, as adults provide no parental care beyond tending to their eggs until the young octopuses hatch.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practise observational learning, although the validity of these findings is contested. Octopuses have also been observed in what has been described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs. The veined octopus collects discarded coconut shells, then uses them to build a shelter, an example of tool use.
CAMOUFLAGE AND COLOUR CHANGE
Octopuses use camouflage when hunting and to avoid predators. To do this they use specialised skin cells which change the appearance of the skin by adjusting its colour, opacity, or reflectivity. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colours, while some have two or four. Other colour-changing cells are reflective iridophores and white leucophores. This colour-changing ability is also used to communicate with or warn other octopuses.
Octopuses can create distracting patterns with waves of dark coloration across the body, a display known as the "passing cloud". Muscles in the skin change the texture of the mantle to achieve greater camouflage. In some species, the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of algae; in others, skin anatomy is limited to relatively uniform shades of one colour with limited skin texture. Octopuses that are diurnal and live in shallow water have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and deep-sea counterparts.
A "moving rock" trick involves the octopus mimicking a rock and then inching across the open space with a speed matching the movement in the surrounding water, allowing it to move in plain sight of a predator.
DEFENCE
Aside from humans, octopuses may be preyed on by fishes, seabirds, sea otters, pinnipeds, cetaceans, and other cephalopods. Octopuses typically hide or disguise themselves by camouflage and mimicry; some have conspicuous warning coloration (aposematism) or deimatic behaviour. An octopus may spend 40% of its time hidden away in its den. When the octopus is approached, it may extend an arm to investigate. 66% of Enteroctopus dofleini in one study had scars, with 50% having amputated arms. The blue rings of the highly venomous blue-ringed octopus are hidden in muscular skin folds which contract when the animal is threatened, exposing the iridescent warning. The Atlantic white-spotted octopus (Callistoctopus macropus) turns bright brownish red with oval white spots all over in a high contrast display. Displays are often reinforced by stretching out the animal's arms, fins or web to make it look as big and threatening as possible.
Once they have been seen by a predator, they commonly try to escape but can also use distraction with an ink cloud ejected from the ink sac. The ink is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might act as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a manner similar to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm may distract would-be predators. Such severed arms remain sensitive to stimuli and move away from unpleasant sensations. Octopuses can replace lost limbs.
Some octopuses, such as the mimic octopus, can combine their highly flexible bodies with their colour-changing ability to mimic other, more dangerous animals, such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels.
PATHOGENS AND PARASITES
The diseases and parasites that affect octopuses have been little studied, but cephalopods are known to be the intermediate or final hosts of various parasitic cestodes, nematodes and copepods; 150 species of protistan and metazoan parasites have been recognised. The Dicyemidae are a family of tiny worms that are found in the renal appendages of many species; it is unclear whether they are parasitic or are endosymbionts. Coccidians in the genus Aggregata living in the gut cause severe disease to the host. Octopuses have an innate immune system, and the haemocytes respond to infection by phagocytosis, encapsulation, infiltration or cytotoxic activities to destroy or isolate the pathogens. The haemocytes play an important role in the recognition and elimination of foreign bodies and wound repair. Captive animals have been found to be more susceptible to pathogens than wild ones. A gram-negative bacterium, Vibrio lentus, has been found to cause skin lesions, exposure of muscle and death of octopuses in extreme cases.
EVOLUTION
The scientific name Octopoda was first coined and given as the order of octopuses in 1818 by English biologist William Elford Leach, who classified them as Octopoida the previous year. The Octopoda consists of around 300 known species and were historically divided into two suborders, the Incirrina and the Cirrina. However, more recent evidence suggests that Cirrina are merely the most basal species and are not a unique clade. The incirrate octopuses (the majority of species) lack the cirri and paired swimming fins of the cirrates. In addition, the internal shell of incirrates is either present as a pair of stylets or absent altogether.
FOSSIL HISTORY AND PHYLOGENY
Cephalopods have existed for 500 million years and octopus ancestors were in the Carboniferous seas 300 million years ago. The oldest known octopus fossil is Pohlsepia, which lived 296 million years ago. Researchers have identified impressions of eight arms, two eyes, and possibly an ink sac. Octopuses are mostly soft tissue, and so fossils are relatively rare. Octopuses, squids and cuttlefish belong to the clade Coleoidea. They are known as "soft-bodied" cephalopods, lacking the external shell of most molluscs and other cephalopods like the nautiloids and the extinct Ammonoidea. Octopuses have eight limbs like other coleoids but lack the extra specialised feeding appendages known as tentacles which are longer and thinner with suckers only at their club-like ends. The vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis) also lacks tentacles but has sensory filaments.
The cladograms are based on Sanchez et al., 2018, who created a molecular phylogeny based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA marker sequences.
RNA EDITING
Octopuses and other coleoid cephalopods are capable of greater RNA editing (which involves changes to the nucleic acid sequence of the primary transcript of RNA molecules) than any other organisms. Editing is concentrated in the nervous system and affects proteins involved in neural excitability and neuronal morphology. More than 60% of RNA transcripts for coleoid brains are recoded by editing, compared to less than 1% for a human or fruit fly. Coleoids rely mostly on ADAR enzymes for RNA editing, which requires large double-stranded RNA structures to flank the editing sites. Both the structures and editing sites are conserved in the coleoid genome and the mutation rates for the sites are severely hampered. Hence, greater transcriptome plasticity has come at the cost of slower genome evolution. High levels of RNA editing do not appear to be present in more basal cephalopods or other molluscs.
RELATIONSHIP TO HUMANS
CULTURAL REFERENCES
Ancient seafaring people were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos (1900–1100 BC) has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. The terrifyingly powerful Gorgon of Greek mythology has been thought to have been inspired by the octopus or squid, the octopus itself representing the severed head of Medusa, the beak as the protruding tongue and fangs, and its tentacles as the snakes. The Kraken are legendary sea monsters of giant proportions said to dwell off the coasts of Norway and Greenland, usually portrayed in art as a giant octopus attacking ships. Linnaeus included it in the first edition of his 1735 Systema Naturae. One translation of the Hawaiian creation myth the Kumulipo suggests that the octopus is the lone survivor of a previous age. The Akkorokamui is a gigantic octopus-like monster from Ainu folklore.
A battle with an octopus plays a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea), relating to his time in exile on Guernsey. Ian Fleming's 1966 short story collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights, and the 1983 James Bond film were partly inspired by Hugo's book.
Japanese erotic art, shunga, includes ukiyo-e woodblock prints such as Katsushika Hokusai's 1814 print Tako to ama (The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife), in which an ama diver is sexually intertwined with a large and a small octopus. The print is a forerunner of tentacle erotica. The biologist P. Z. Myers noted in his science blog, Pharyngula, that octopuses appear in "extraordinary" graphic illustrations involving women, tentacles, and bare breasts.
Since it has numerous arms emanating from a common centre, the octopus is often used as a symbol for a powerful and manipulative organisation, company, or country.
DANGER
Octopuses generally avoid humans, but incidents have been verified. For example, a 2.4-metre Pacific octopus, said to be nearly perfectly camouflaged, "lunged" at a diver and "wrangled" over his camera before it let go. Another diver recorded the encounter on video.
All species are venomous, but only blue-ringed octopuses have venom that is lethal to humans. Bites are reported each year across the animals' range from Australia to the eastern Indo-Pacific Ocean. They bite only when provoked or accidentally stepped upon; bites are small and usually painless. The venom appears to be able to penetrate the skin without a puncture, given prolonged contact. It contains tetrodotoxin, which causes paralysis by blocking the transmission of nerve impulses to the muscles. This causes death by respiratory failure leading to cerebral anoxia. No antidote is known, but if breathing can be kept going artificially, patients recover within 24 hours. Bites have been recorded from captive octopuses of other species; they leave swellings which disappear in a day or two.
FISHERIES AND CUISINE
Octopus fisheries exist around the world with total catches varying between 245,320 and 322,999 metric tons from 1986 to 1995. The world catch peaked in 2007 at 380,000 tons, and fell by a tenth by 2012. Methods to capture octopuses include pots, traps, trawls, snares, drift fishing, spearing, hooking and hand collection. Octopus is eaten in many cultures and is a common food on the Mediterranean and Asian coasts. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species or geography. Live octopuses are eaten in several countries around the world, including the US. Animal welfare groups have objected to this practice on the basis that octopuses can experience pain. Octopuses have a food conversion efficiency greater than that of chickens, making octopus aquaculture a possibility.
IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
In classical Greece, Aristotle (384–322 BC) commented on the colour-changing abilities of the octopus, both for camouflage and for signalling, in his Historia animalium: "The octopus ... seeks its prey by so changing its colour as to render it like the colour of the stones adjacent to it; it does so also when alarmed." Aristotle noted that the octopus had a hectocotyl arm and suggested it might be used in sexual reproduction. This claim was widely disbelieved until the 19th century. It was described in 1829 by the French zoologist Georges Cuvier, who supposed it to be a parasitic worm, naming it as a new species, Hectocotylus octopodis. Other zoologists thought it a spermatophore; the German zoologist Heinrich Müller believed it was "designed" to detach during copulation. In 1856 the Danish zoologist Japetus Steenstrup demonstrated that it is used to transfer sperm, and only rarely detaches.
Octopuses offer many possibilities in biological research, including their ability to regenerate limbs, change the colour of their skin, behave intelligently with a distributed nervous system, and make use of 168 kinds of protocadherins (humans have 58), the proteins that guide the connections neurons make with each other. The California two-spot octopus has had its genome sequenced, allowing exploration of its molecular adaptations. Having independently evolved mammal-like intelligence, octopuses have been compared to hypothetical intelligent extraterrestrials. Their problem-solving skills, along with their mobility and lack of rigid structure enable them to escape from supposedly secure tanks in laboratories and public aquariums.
Due to their intelligence, octopuses are listed in some countries as experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia, a protection usually extended only to vertebrates. In the UK from 1993 to 2012, the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) was the only invertebrate protected under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. In 2012, this legislation was extended to include all cephalopods in accordance with a general EU directive.
Some robotics research is exploring biomimicry of octopus features. Octopus arms can move and sense largely autonomously without intervention from the animal's central nervous system. In 2015 a team in Italy built soft-bodied robots able to crawl and swim, requiring only minimal computation. In 2017 a German company made an arm with a soft pneumatically controlled silicone gripper fitted with two rows of suckers. It is able to grasp objects such as a metal tube, a magazine, or a ball, and to fill a glass by pouring water from a bottle.
WIKIPEDIA
The octopus (plural octopuses) is a soft-bodied, eight-limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (/ɒkˈtɒpədə/, ok-TO-pə-də). Around 300 species are recognised, and the order is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, and nautiloids. Like other cephalopods, the octopus is bilaterally symmetric with two eyes and a beak, with its mouth at the center point of the eight limbs.[a] The soft body can rapidly alter its shape, enabling octopuses to squeeze through small gaps. They trail their eight appendages behind them as they swim. The siphon is used both for respiration and for locomotion, by expelling a jet of water. Octopuses have a complex nervous system and excellent sight, and are among the most intelligent and behaviourally diverse of all invertebrates.
Octopuses inhabit various regions of the ocean, including coral reefs, pelagic waters, and the seabed; some live in the intertidal zone and others at abyssal depths. Most species grow quickly, mature early, and are short-lived. In most species, the male uses a specially adapted arm to deliver a bundle of sperm directly into the female's mantle cavity, after which he becomes senescent and dies, while the female deposits fertilised eggs in a den and cares for them until they hatch, after which she also dies. Strategies to defend themselves against predators include the expulsion of ink, the use of camouflage and threat displays, the ability to jet quickly through the water and hide, and even deceit. All octopuses are venomous, but only the blue-ringed octopuses are known to be deadly to humans.
Octopuses appear in mythology as sea monsters like the Kraken of Norway and the Akkorokamui of the Ainu, and probably the Gorgon of ancient Greece. A battle with an octopus appears in Victor Hugo's book Toilers of the Sea, inspiring other works such as Ian Fleming's Octopussy. Octopuses appear in Japanese erotic art, shunga. They are eaten and considered a delicacy by humans in many parts of the world, especially the Mediterranean and the Asian seas.
ETYMOLOGY AND PLURALISATION
The scientific Latin term octopus was derived from Ancient Greek ὀκτώπους, a compound form of ὀκτώ (oktō, "eight") and πούς (pous, "foot"), itself a variant form of ὀκτάπους, a word used for example by Alexander of Tralles (c. 525–605) for the common octopus. The standard pluralised form of "octopus" in English is "octopuses"; the Ancient Greek plural ὀκτώποδες, "octopodes" (/ɒkˈtɒpədiːz/), has also been used historically. The alternative plural "octopi" is considered grammatically incorrect because it wrongly assumes that octopus is a Latin second declension "-us" noun or adjective when, in either Greek or Latin, it is a third declension noun.
Fowler's Modern English Usage states that the only acceptable plural in English is "octopuses", that "octopi" is misconceived, and "octopodes" pedantic; the latter is nonetheless used frequently enough to be acknowledged by the descriptivist Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary and Webster's New World College Dictionary. The Oxford English Dictionary lists "octopuses", "octopi", and "octopodes", in that order, reflecting frequency of use, calling "octopodes" rare and noting that "octopi" is based on a misunderstanding. The New Oxford American Dictionary (3rd Edition, 2010) lists "octopuses" as the only acceptable pluralisation, and indicates that "octopodes" is still occasionally used, but that "octopi" is incorrect.
ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY
SIZE
The giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) is often cited as the largest known octopus species. Adults usually weigh around 15 kg, with an arm span of up to 4.3 m. The largest specimen of this species to be scientifically documented was an animal with a live mass of 71 kg. Much larger sizes have been claimed for the giant Pacific octopus: one specimen was recorded as 272 kg with an arm span of 9 m. A carcass of the seven-arm octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, weighed 61 kg and was estimated to have had a live mass of 75 kg. The smallest species is Octopus wolfi, which is around 2.5 cm and weighs less than 1 g.
EXTERNAL CHARACTERISTICS
The octopus is bilaterally symmetrical along its dorso-ventral axis; the head and foot are at one end of an elongated body and function as the anterior (front) of the animal. The head includes the mouth and brain. The foot has evolved into a set of flexible, prehensile appendages, known as "arms", that surround the mouth and are attached to each other near their base by a webbed structure. The arms can be described based on side and sequence position (such as L1, R1, L2, R2) and divided into four pairs. The two rear appendages are generally used to walk on the sea floor, while the other six are used to forage for food; hence some biologists refer to the animals as having six "arms" and two "legs". The bulbous and hollow mantle is fused to the back of the head and is known as the visceral hump; it contains most of the vital organs. The mantle cavity has muscular walls and contains the gills; it is connected to the exterior by a funnel or siphon. The mouth of an octopus, located underneath the arms, has a sharp hard beak.
The skin consists of a thin outer epidermis with mucous cells and sensory cells, and a connective tissue dermis consisting largely of collagen fibres and various cells allowing colour change. Most of the body is made of soft tissue allowing it to lengthen, contract, and contort itself. The octopus can squeeze through tiny gaps; even the larger species can pass through an opening close to 2.5 cm in diameter. Lacking skeletal support, the arms work as muscular hydrostats and contain longitudinal, transverse and circular muscles around a central axial nerve. They can extend and contract, twist to left or right, bend at any place in any direction or be held rigid.
The interior surfaces of the arms are covered with circular, adhesive suckers. The suckers allow the octopus to anchor itself or to manipulate objects. Each sucker is usually circular and bowl-like and has two distinct parts: an outer shallow cavity called an infundibulum and a central hollow cavity called an acetabulum, both of which are thick muscles covered in a protective chitinous cuticle. When a sucker attaches to a surface, the orifice between the two structures is sealed. The infundibulum provides adhesion while the acetabulum remains free, and muscle contractions allow for attachment and detachment.
The eyes of the octopus are large and are at the top of the head. They are similar in structure to those of a fish and are enclosed in a cartilaginous capsule fused to the cranium. The cornea is formed from a translucent epidermal layer and the slit-shaped pupil forms a hole in the iris and lies just behind. The lens is suspended behind the pupil and photoreceptive retinal cells cover the back of the eye. The pupil can be adjusted in size and a retinal pigment screens incident light in bright conditions.Some species differ in form from the typical octopus body shape. Basal species, the Cirrina, have stout gelatinous bodies with webbing that reaches near the tip of their arms, and two large fins above the eyes, supported by an internal shell. Fleshy papillae or cirri are found along the bottom of the arms, and the eyes are more developed.
CIRCULATORY SYSTEM
Octopuses have a closed circulatory system, in which the blood remains inside blood vessels. Octopuses have three hearts; a systemic heart that circulates blood around the body and two branchial hearts that pump it through each of the two gills. The systemic heart is inactive when the animal is swimming and thus it tires quickly and prefers to crawl. Octopus blood contains the copper-rich protein haemocyanin to transport oxygen. This makes the blood very viscous and it requires considerable pressure to pump it around the body; octopuses' blood pressures can exceed 75 mmHg. In cold conditions with low oxygen levels, haemocyanin transports oxygen more efficiently than haemoglobin. The haemocyanin is dissolved in the plasma instead of being carried within blood cells, and gives the blood a bluish colour.
The systemic heart has muscular contractile walls and consists of a single ventricle and two atria, one for each side of the body. The blood vessels consist of arteries, capillaries and veins and are lined with a cellular endothelium which is quite unlike that of most other invertebrates. The blood circulates through the aorta and capillary system, to the vena cavae, after which the blood is pumped through the gills by the auxiliary hearts and back to the main heart. Much of the venous system is contractile, which helps circulate the blood.
RESPIRATION
Respiration involves drawing water into the mantle cavity through an aperture, passing it through the gills, and expelling it through the siphon. The ingress of water is achieved by contraction of radial muscles in the mantle wall, and flapper valves shut when strong circular muscles force the water out through the siphon. Extensive connective tissue lattices support the respiratory muscles and allow them to expand the respiratory chamber. The lamella structure of the gills allows for a high oxygen uptake, up to 65% in water at 20 °C. Water flow over the gills correlates with locomotion, and an octopus can propel its body when it expels water out of its siphon.
The thin skin of the octopus absorbs additional oxygen. When resting, around 41% of an octopus's oxygen absorption is through the skin. This decreases to 33% when it swims, as more water flows over the gills; skin oxygen uptake also increases. When it is resting after a meal, absorption through the skin can drop to 3% of its total oxygen uptake.
DIGESTION AND EXCRETION
The digestive system of the octopus begins with the buccal mass which consists of the mouth with its chitinous beak, the pharynx, radula and salivary glands. The radula is a spiked, muscular tongue-like organ with multiple rows of tiny teeth. Food is broken down and is forced into the oesophagus by two lateral extensions of the esophageal side walls in addition to the radula. From there it is transferred to the gastrointestinal tract, which is mostly suspended from the roof of the mantle cavity by numerous membranes. The tract consists of a crop, where the food is stored; a stomach, where food is ground down; a caecum where the now sludgy food is sorted into fluids and particles and which plays an important role in absorption; the digestive gland, where liver cells break down and absorb the fluid and become "brown bodies"; and the intestine, where the accumulated waste is turned into faecal ropes by secretions and blown out of the funnel via the rectum.
During osmoregulation, fluid is added to the pericardia of the branchial hearts. The octopus has two nephridia (equivalent to vertebrate kidneys) which are associated with the branchial hearts; these and their associated ducts connect the pericardial cavities with the mantle cavity. Before reaching the branchial heart, each branch of the vena cava expands to form renal appendages which are in direct contact with the thin-walled nephridium. The urine is first formed in the pericardial cavity, and is modified by excretion, chiefly of ammonia, and selective absorption from the renal appendages, as it is passed along the associated duct and through the nephridiopore into the mantle cavity.
NERVOUS SYSTEM AND SENSES
The octopus (along with cuttlefish) has the highest brain-to-body mass ratios of all invertebrates; it is also greater than that of many vertebrates. It has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localised in its brain, which is contained in a cartilaginous capsule. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which show a variety of complex reflex actions that persist even when they have no input from the brain. Unlike vertebrates, the complex motor skills of octopuses are not organised in their brain via an internal somatotopic map of its body, instead using a nonsomatotopic system unique to large-brained invertebrates.
Like other cephalopods, octopuses can distinguish the polarisation of light. Colour vision appears to vary from species to species, for example being present in O. aegina but absent in O. vulgaris. Researchers believe that opsins in the skin can sense different wavelengths of light and help the creatures choose a coloration that camouflages them, in addition to light input from the eyes. Other researchers hypothesise that cephalopod eyes in species which only have a single photoreceptor protein may use chromatic aberration to turn monochromatic vision into colour vision, though this sacrifices image quality. This would explain pupils shaped like the letter U, the letter W, or a dumbbell, as well as explaining the need for colourful mating displays.
Attached to the brain are two special organs called statocysts (sac-like structures containing a mineralised mass and sensitive hairs), that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body. They provide information on the position of the body relative to gravity and can detect angular acceleration. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil is always horizontal. Octopuses may also use the statocyst to hear sound. The common octopus can hear sounds between 400 Hz and 1000 Hz, and hears best at 600 Hz.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. The octopus's suction cups are equipped with chemoreceptors so the octopus can taste what it touches. Octopus arms do not become tangled or stuck to each other because the sensors recognise octopus skin and prevent self-attachment.
The arms contain tension sensors so the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out, but this is not sufficient for the brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture. The neurological autonomy of the arms means the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. It has a poor proprioceptive sense, and it knows what exact motions were made only by observing the arms visually.
Ink sac
The ink sac of an octopus is located under the digestive gland. A gland attached to the sac produces the ink, and the sac stores it. The sac is close enough to the funnel for the octopus to shoot out the ink with a water jet. Before it leaves the funnel, the ink passes through glands which mix it with mucus, creating a thick, dark blob which allows the animal to escape from a predator. The main pigment in the ink is melanin, which gives it its black colour. Cirrate octopuses lack the ink sac.
LIFECYCLE
REPRODUCTION
Octopuses are gonochoric and have a single, posteriorly-located gonad which is associated with the coelom. The testis in males and the ovary in females bulges into the gonocoel and the gametes are released here. The gonocoel is connected by the gonoduct to the mantle cavity, which it enters at the gonopore. An optic gland creates hormones that cause the octopus to mature and age and stimulate gamete production. The gland may be triggered by environmental conditions such as temperature, light and nutrition, which thus control the timing of reproduction and lifespan.
When octopuses reproduce, the male uses a specialised arm called a hectocotylus to transfer spermatophores (packets of sperm) from the terminal organ of the reproductive tract (the cephalopod "penis") into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm, which has a spoon-shaped depression and modified suckers near the tip. In most species, fertilisation occurs in the mantle cavity.
The reproduction of octopuses has been studied in only a few species. One such species is the giant Pacific octopus, in which courtship is accompanied, especially in the male, by changes in skin texture and colour. The male may cling to the top or side of the female or position himself beside her. There is some speculation that he may first use his hectocotylus to remove any spermatophore or sperm already present in the female. He picks up a spermatophore from his spermatophoric sac with the hectocotylus, inserts it into the female's mantle cavity, and deposits it in the correct location for the species, which in the giant Pacific octopus is the opening of the oviduct. Two spermatophores are transferred in this way; these are about one metre (yard) long, and the empty ends may protrude from the female's mantle. A complex hydraulic mechanism releases the sperm from the spermatophore, and it is stored internally by the female.
About forty days after mating, the female giant Pacific octopus attaches strings of small fertilised eggs (10,000 to 70,000 in total) to rocks in a crevice or under an overhang. Here she guards and cares for them for about five months (160 days) until they hatch. In colder waters, such as those off of Alaska, it may take as much as 10 months for the eggs to completely develop. The female aerates the eggs and keeps them clean; if left untended, many eggs will not hatch. She does not feed during this time and dies soon afterwards. Males become senescent and die a few weeks after mating.
The eggs have large yolks; cleavage (division) is superficial and a germinal disc develops at the pole. During gastrulation, the margins of this grow down and surround the yolk, forming a yolk sac, which eventually forms part of the gut. The dorsal side of the disc grows upwards and forms the embryo, with a shell gland on its dorsal surface, gills, mantle and eyes. The arms and funnel develop as part of the foot on the ventral side of the disc. The arms later migrate upwards, coming to form a ring around the funnel and mouth. The yolk is gradually absorbed as the embryo develops.
Most young octopuses hatch as paralarvae and are planktonic for weeks to months, depending on the species and water temperature. They feed on copepods, arthropod larvae and other zooplankton, eventually settling on the ocean floor and developing directly into adults with no distinct metamorphoses that are present in other groups of mollusc larvae. Octopus species that produce larger eggs – including the southern blue-ringed, Caribbean reef, California two-spot, Eledone moschata and deep sea octopuses – do not have a paralarval stage, but hatch as benthic animals similar to the adults.In the argonaut (paper nautilus), the female secretes a fine, fluted, papery shell in which the eggs are deposited and in which she also resides while floating in mid-ocean. In this she broods the young, and it also serves as a buoyancy aid allowing her to adjust her depth. The male argonaut is minute by comparison and has no shell.
LIFESPAN
Octopuses have a relatively short life expectancy; some species live for as little as six months. The giant Pacific octopus, one of the two largest species of octopus, may live for as much as five years. Octopus lifespan is limited by reproduction: males can live for only a few months after mating, and females die shortly after their eggs hatch. The larger Pacific striped octopus is an exception, as it can reproduce multiple times over a life of around two years. Octopus reproductive organs mature due to the hormonal influence of the optic gland but result in the inactivation of their digestive glands, typically causing the octopus to die from starvation. Experimental removal of both optic glands after spawning was found to result in the cessation of broodiness, the resumption of feeding, increased growth, and greatly extended lifespans. It has been proposed that the naturally short lifespan may be functional to prevent rapid overpopulation.
DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
Octopuses live in every ocean, and different species have adapted to different marine habitats. As juveniles, common octopuses inhabit shallow tide pools. The Hawaiian day octopus (Octopus cyanea) lives on coral reefs; argonauts drift in pelagic waters. Abdopus aculeatus mostly lives in near-shore seagrass beds. Some species are adapted to the cold, ocean depths. The spoon-armed octopus (Bathypolypus arcticus) is found at depths of 1,000 m, and Vulcanoctopus hydrothermalis lives near hydrothermal vents at 2,000 m. The cirrate species are often free-swimming and live in deep-water habitats. Although several species are known to live at bathyal and abyssal depths, there is only a single indisputable record of an octopus in the hadal zone; a species of Grimpoteuthis (dumbo octopus) photographed at 6,957 m. No species are known to live in fresh water.
BEHAVIOUR AND ECOLOGY
Most species are solitary when not mating, though a few are known to occur in high densities and with frequent interactions, signaling, mate defending and eviction of individuals from dens. This is likely the result of abundant food supplies combined with limited den sites. The larger Pacific striped octopus however is social, living in groups of up to 40 individuals that share dens. Octopuses hide in dens, which are typically crevices in rocky outcrops or other hard structures, though some species burrow into sand or mud. Octopuses are not territorial but generally remain in a home range; they may leave the area in search of food. They can use navigation skills to return to a den without having to retrace their outward route. They are not known to be migratory.
Octopuses bring captured prey back to the den where they can eat it safely. Sometimes the octopus catches more prey than it can eat, and the den is often surrounded by a midden of dead and uneaten food items. Other creatures, such as fish, crabs, molluscs and echinoderms, often share the den with the octopus, either because they have arrived as scavengers, or because they have survived capture. Octopuses rarely engage in interspecific cooperative hunting with fish as their partners. They regulate the species composition of the hunting group - and the behavior of their partners - by punching them.
FEEDING
Nearly all octopuses are predatory; bottom-dwelling octopuses eat mainly crustaceans, polychaete worms, and other molluscs such as whelks and clams; open-ocean octopuses eat mainly prawns, fish and other cephalopods. Major items in the diet of the giant Pacific octopus include bivalve molluscs such as the cockle Clinocardium nuttallii, clams and scallops and crustaceans such as crabs and spider crabs. Prey that it is likely to reject include moon snails because they are too large and limpets, rock scallops, chitons and abalone, because they are too securely fixed to the rock.
A benthic (bottom-dwelling) octopus typically moves among the rocks and feels through the crevices. The creature may make a jet-propelled pounce on prey and pull it towards the mouth with its arms, the suckers restraining it. Small prey may be completely trapped by the webbed structure. Octopuses usually inject crustaceans like crabs with a paralysing saliva then dismember them with their beaks. Octopuses feed on shelled molluscs either by forcing the valves apart, or by drilling a hole in the shell to inject a nerve toxin. It used to be thought that the hole was drilled by the radula, but it has now been shown that minute teeth at the tip of the salivary papilla are involved, and an enzyme in the toxic saliva is used to dissolve the calcium carbonate of the shell. It takes about three hours for O. vulgaris to create a 0.6 mm hole. Once the shell is penetrated, the prey dies almost instantaneously, its muscles relax, and the soft tissues are easy for the octopus to remove. Crabs may also be treated in this way; tough-shelled species are more likely to be drilled, and soft-shelled crabs are torn apart.
Some species have other modes of feeding. Grimpoteuthis has a reduced or non-existent radula and swallows prey whole. In the deep-sea genus Stauroteuthis, some of the muscle cells that control the suckers in most species have been replaced with photophores which are believed to fool prey by directing them towards the mouth, making them one of the few bioluminescent octopuses.
LOCOMOTION
Octopuses mainly move about by relatively slow crawling with some swimming in a head-first position. Jet propulsion or backwards swimming, is their fastest means of locomotion, followed by swimming and crawling. When in no hurry, they usually crawl on either solid or soft surfaces. Several arms are extended forwards, some of the suckers adhere to the substrate and the animal hauls itself forwards with its powerful arm muscles, while other arms may push rather than pull. As progress is made, other arms move ahead to repeat these actions and the original suckers detach. During crawling, the heart rate nearly doubles, and the animal requires ten or fifteen minutes to recover from relatively minor exercise.
Most octopuses swim by expelling a jet of water from the mantle through the siphon into the sea. The physical principle behind this is that the force required to accelerate the water through the orifice produces a reaction that propels the octopus in the opposite direction. The direction of travel depends on the orientation of the siphon. When swimming, the head is at the front and the siphon is pointed backwards, but when jetting, the visceral hump leads, the siphon points towards the head and the arms trail behind, with the animal presenting a fusiform appearance. In an alternative method of swimming, some species flatten themselves dorso-ventrally, and swim with the arms held out sideways, and this may provide lift and be faster than normal swimming. Jetting is used to escape from danger, but is physiologically inefficient, requiring a mantle pressure so high as to stop the heart from beating, resulting in a progressive oxygen deficit.
Cirrate octopuses cannot produce jet propulsion and rely on their fins for swimming. They have neutral buoyancy and drift through the water with the fins extended. They can also contract their arms and surrounding web to make sudden moves known as "take-offs". Another form of locomotion is "pumping", which involves symmetrical contractions of muscles in their webs producing peristaltic waves. This moves the body slowly.
In 2005, Adopus aculeatus and veined octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) were found to walk on two arms, while at the same time mimicking plant matter. This form of locomotion allows these octopuses to move quickly away from a potential predator without being recognised. A study of this behaviour led to the suggestion that the two rearmost appendages may be more accurately termed "legs" rather than "arms". Some species of octopus can crawl out of the water briefly, which they may do between tide pools while hunting crustaceans or gastropods or to escape predators. "Stilt walking" is used by the veined octopus when carrying stacked coconut shells. The octopus carries the shells underneath it with two arms, and progresses with an ungainly gait supported by its remaining arms held rigid.
INTELLIGENCE
Octopuses are highly intelligent; the extent of their intelligence and learning capability are not well defined. Maze and problem-solving experiments have shown evidence of a memory system that can store both short- and long-term memory. It is not known precisely what contribution learning makes to adult octopus behaviour. Young octopuses learn nothing from their parents, as adults provide no parental care beyond tending to their eggs until the young octopuses hatch.
In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practise observational learning, although the validity of these findings is contested. Octopuses have also been observed in what has been described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs. The veined octopus collects discarded coconut shells, then uses them to build a shelter, an example of tool use.
CAMOUFLAGE AND COLOUR CHANGE
Octopuses use camouflage when hunting and to avoid predators. To do this they use specialised skin cells which change the appearance of the skin by adjusting its colour, opacity, or reflectivity. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colours, while some have two or four. Other colour-changing cells are reflective iridophores and white leucophores. This colour-changing ability is also used to communicate with or warn other octopuses.
Octopuses can create distracting patterns with waves of dark coloration across the body, a display known as the "passing cloud". Muscles in the skin change the texture of the mantle to achieve greater camouflage. In some species, the mantle can take on the spiky appearance of algae; in others, skin anatomy is limited to relatively uniform shades of one colour with limited skin texture. Octopuses that are diurnal and live in shallow water have evolved more complex skin than their nocturnal and deep-sea counterparts.
A "moving rock" trick involves the octopus mimicking a rock and then inching across the open space with a speed matching the movement in the surrounding water, allowing it to move in plain sight of a predator.
DEFENCE
Aside from humans, octopuses may be preyed on by fishes, seabirds, sea otters, pinnipeds, cetaceans, and other cephalopods. Octopuses typically hide or disguise themselves by camouflage and mimicry; some have conspicuous warning coloration (aposematism) or deimatic behaviour. An octopus may spend 40% of its time hidden away in its den. When the octopus is approached, it may extend an arm to investigate. 66% of Enteroctopus dofleini in one study had scars, with 50% having amputated arms. The blue rings of the highly venomous blue-ringed octopus are hidden in muscular skin folds which contract when the animal is threatened, exposing the iridescent warning. The Atlantic white-spotted octopus (Callistoctopus macropus) turns bright brownish red with oval white spots all over in a high contrast display. Displays are often reinforced by stretching out the animal's arms, fins or web to make it look as big and threatening as possible.
Once they have been seen by a predator, they commonly try to escape but can also use distraction with an ink cloud ejected from the ink sac. The ink is thought to reduce the efficiency of olfactory organs, which would aid evasion from predators that employ smell for hunting, such as sharks. Ink clouds of some species might act as pseudomorphs, or decoys that the predator attacks instead.
When under attack, some octopuses can perform arm autotomy, in a manner similar to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm may distract would-be predators. Such severed arms remain sensitive to stimuli and move away from unpleasant sensations. Octopuses can replace lost limbs.
Some octopuses, such as the mimic octopus, can combine their highly flexible bodies with their colour-changing ability to mimic other, more dangerous animals, such as lionfish, sea snakes, and eels.
PATHOGENS AND PARASITES
The diseases and parasites that affect octopuses have been little studied, but cephalopods are known to be the intermediate or final hosts of various parasitic cestodes, nematodes and copepods; 150 species of protistan and metazoan parasites have been recognised. The Dicyemidae are a family of tiny worms that are found in the renal appendages of many species; it is unclear whether they are parasitic or are endosymbionts. Coccidians in the genus Aggregata living in the gut cause severe disease to the host. Octopuses have an innate immune system, and the haemocytes respond to infection by phagocytosis, encapsulation, infiltration or cytotoxic activities to destroy or isolate the pathogens. The haemocytes play an important role in the recognition and elimination of foreign bodies and wound repair. Captive animals have been found to be more susceptible to pathogens than wild ones. A gram-negative bacterium, Vibrio lentus, has been found to cause skin lesions, exposure of muscle and death of octopuses in extreme cases.
EVOLUTION
The scientific name Octopoda was first coined and given as the order of octopuses in 1818 by English biologist William Elford Leach, who classified them as Octopoida the previous year. The Octopoda consists of around 300 known species and were historically divided into two suborders, the Incirrina and the Cirrina. However, more recent evidence suggests that Cirrina are merely the most basal species and are not a unique clade. The incirrate octopuses (the majority of species) lack the cirri and paired swimming fins of the cirrates. In addition, the internal shell of incirrates is either present as a pair of stylets or absent altogether.
FOSSIL HISTORY AND PHYLOGENY
Cephalopods have existed for 500 million years and octopus ancestors were in the Carboniferous seas 300 million years ago. The oldest known octopus fossil is Pohlsepia, which lived 296 million years ago. Researchers have identified impressions of eight arms, two eyes, and possibly an ink sac. Octopuses are mostly soft tissue, and so fossils are relatively rare. Octopuses, squids and cuttlefish belong to the clade Coleoidea. They are known as "soft-bodied" cephalopods, lacking the external shell of most molluscs and other cephalopods like the nautiloids and the extinct Ammonoidea. Octopuses have eight limbs like other coleoids but lack the extra specialised feeding appendages known as tentacles which are longer and thinner with suckers only at their club-like ends. The vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis) also lacks tentacles but has sensory filaments.
The cladograms are based on Sanchez et al., 2018, who created a molecular phylogeny based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA marker sequences.
RNA EDITING
Octopuses and other coleoid cephalopods are capable of greater RNA editing (which involves changes to the nucleic acid sequence of the primary transcript of RNA molecules) than any other organisms. Editing is concentrated in the nervous system and affects proteins involved in neural excitability and neuronal morphology. More than 60% of RNA transcripts for coleoid brains are recoded by editing, compared to less than 1% for a human or fruit fly. Coleoids rely mostly on ADAR enzymes for RNA editing, which requires large double-stranded RNA structures to flank the editing sites. Both the structures and editing sites are conserved in the coleoid genome and the mutation rates for the sites are severely hampered. Hence, greater transcriptome plasticity has come at the cost of slower genome evolution. High levels of RNA editing do not appear to be present in more basal cephalopods or other molluscs.
RELATIONSHIP TO HUMANS
CULTURAL REFERENCES
Ancient seafaring people were aware of the octopus, as evidenced by certain artworks and designs. For example, a stone carving found in the archaeological recovery from Bronze Age Minoan Crete at Knossos (1900–1100 BC) has a depiction of a fisherman carrying an octopus. The terrifyingly powerful Gorgon of Greek mythology has been thought to have been inspired by the octopus or squid, the octopus itself representing the severed head of Medusa, the beak as the protruding tongue and fangs, and its tentacles as the snakes. The Kraken are legendary sea monsters of giant proportions said to dwell off the coasts of Norway and Greenland, usually portrayed in art as a giant octopus attacking ships. Linnaeus included it in the first edition of his 1735 Systema Naturae. One translation of the Hawaiian creation myth the Kumulipo suggests that the octopus is the lone survivor of a previous age. The Akkorokamui is a gigantic octopus-like monster from Ainu folklore.
A battle with an octopus plays a significant role in Victor Hugo's book Travailleurs de la mer (Toilers of the Sea), relating to his time in exile on Guernsey. Ian Fleming's 1966 short story collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights, and the 1983 James Bond film were partly inspired by Hugo's book.
Japanese erotic art, shunga, includes ukiyo-e woodblock prints such as Katsushika Hokusai's 1814 print Tako to ama (The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife), in which an ama diver is sexually intertwined with a large and a small octopus. The print is a forerunner of tentacle erotica. The biologist P. Z. Myers noted in his science blog, Pharyngula, that octopuses appear in "extraordinary" graphic illustrations involving women, tentacles, and bare breasts.
Since it has numerous arms emanating from a common centre, the octopus is often used as a symbol for a powerful and manipulative organisation, company, or country.
DANGER
Octopuses generally avoid humans, but incidents have been verified. For example, a 2.4-metre Pacific octopus, said to be nearly perfectly camouflaged, "lunged" at a diver and "wrangled" over his camera before it let go. Another diver recorded the encounter on video.
All species are venomous, but only blue-ringed octopuses have venom that is lethal to humans. Bites are reported each year across the animals' range from Australia to the eastern Indo-Pacific Ocean. They bite only when provoked or accidentally stepped upon; bites are small and usually painless. The venom appears to be able to penetrate the skin without a puncture, given prolonged contact. It contains tetrodotoxin, which causes paralysis by blocking the transmission of nerve impulses to the muscles. This causes death by respiratory failure leading to cerebral anoxia. No antidote is known, but if breathing can be kept going artificially, patients recover within 24 hours. Bites have been recorded from captive octopuses of other species; they leave swellings which disappear in a day or two.
FISHERIES AND CUISINE
Octopus fisheries exist around the world with total catches varying between 245,320 and 322,999 metric tons from 1986 to 1995. The world catch peaked in 2007 at 380,000 tons, and fell by a tenth by 2012. Methods to capture octopuses include pots, traps, trawls, snares, drift fishing, spearing, hooking and hand collection. Octopus is eaten in many cultures and is a common food on the Mediterranean and Asian coasts. The arms and sometimes other body parts are prepared in various ways, often varying by species or geography. Live octopuses are eaten in several countries around the world, including the US. Animal welfare groups have objected to this practice on the basis that octopuses can experience pain. Octopuses have a food conversion efficiency greater than that of chickens, making octopus aquaculture a possibility.
IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
In classical Greece, Aristotle (384–322 BC) commented on the colour-changing abilities of the octopus, both for camouflage and for signalling, in his Historia animalium: "The octopus ... seeks its prey by so changing its colour as to render it like the colour of the stones adjacent to it; it does so also when alarmed." Aristotle noted that the octopus had a hectocotyl arm and suggested it might be used in sexual reproduction. This claim was widely disbelieved until the 19th century. It was described in 1829 by the French zoologist Georges Cuvier, who supposed it to be a parasitic worm, naming it as a new species, Hectocotylus octopodis. Other zoologists thought it a spermatophore; the German zoologist Heinrich Müller believed it was "designed" to detach during copulation. In 1856 the Danish zoologist Japetus Steenstrup demonstrated that it is used to transfer sperm, and only rarely detaches.
Octopuses offer many possibilities in biological research, including their ability to regenerate limbs, change the colour of their skin, behave intelligently with a distributed nervous system, and make use of 168 kinds of protocadherins (humans have 58), the proteins that guide the connections neurons make with each other. The California two-spot octopus has had its genome sequenced, allowing exploration of its molecular adaptations. Having independently evolved mammal-like intelligence, octopuses have been compared to hypothetical intelligent extraterrestrials. Their problem-solving skills, along with their mobility and lack of rigid structure enable them to escape from supposedly secure tanks in laboratories and public aquariums.
Due to their intelligence, octopuses are listed in some countries as experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia, a protection usually extended only to vertebrates. In the UK from 1993 to 2012, the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) was the only invertebrate protected under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. In 2012, this legislation was extended to include all cephalopods in accordance with a general EU directive.
Some robotics research is exploring biomimicry of octopus features. Octopus arms can move and sense largely autonomously without intervention from the animal's central nervous system. In 2015 a team in Italy built soft-bodied robots able to crawl and swim, requiring only minimal computation. In 2017 a German company made an arm with a soft pneumatically controlled silicone gripper fitted with two rows of suckers. It is able to grasp objects such as a metal tube, a magazine, or a ball, and to fill a glass by pouring water from a bottle.
WIKIPEDIA
Such a pretty face! Couldn't pass her up again! I wish that they gave her Saran. But she instead has the worst nylon I've ever seen!! Her outfit is pretty cheap too. The fabrics okay, not the worst fabric out there, but it's cheap. My gold trim on her skirt is starting to flake, and her jean skirt is starting to fray in the back. They used real denim for the skirt, but it's in hemmed. Also her legs, knees down, are very rubbery and flop, and wiggle when you put her on her stand. Mainly because of her heavy rubber shoes. Her witch hat is held on by a rubber band that's glued on the bottom of her hat. So if the rubber band breaks, sorry, no hat.lol her earrings are painted, and the scratch the side of her face. And it's only removable with acetone. She's an okay doll but the quality is just bad. They seemed to have rushed on her, and not used the best resources they had to offer. If they did use the best materials they could, this doll wouldn't be half bad! But even her witches broom is cheap! The other side of the broom is flat. But she will live terrifyingly happy in monster high collection.lol she's found it perfectly unlivable here, and loves it!
When ships transit the Panama canal in either direction too late in the day, they end up mooring for the night on the freshwater Gatun lake because they don't have time to complete the day long crossing process. I met the Spanish captain of the sailboat Olé, his family and the other Canadian and American crew in the reputedly dangerous city of Colón at a local marina. I certainly witnessed some sketchy things there but the locals were generally friendly and helped me out of a bad situation at the central bus station. Given this was going to be my first ever sailing experience in my life, I was pretty excited to experience what it would be like to live and work on a sailboat for a day. The captain briefed us about provisioning tasks and the canal transit which usually involves paying a lot of money to the authorities and executing relatively simple maneuvers - except in our case. We came out of our transit to Gatun mostly unscathed. However, a tactical error by another captain terrifyingly squished our catamaran between the canal walls and a tanker like a sardine can. The canal agent said he'd never seen such a dangerous situation in his 20 year career. Luckily, no one was hurt when a four foot section of a metal mast snapped off another boat and landed on the nets of our catamaran while we were being squished along the canal walls. We were lucky to only come out with a few scratches because the canal takes no responsibility for damage to boats during the crossing.
I slept outside on the nets once we moored on Gatun lake for the night and awoke very early to experience the stunningly quiet beauty of Gatun in the pre-dawn hours. I had agreed to assist the captain swab the decks at 6AM while we waited for the canal agent to show up. The agent would assist with the rest of our 4hr sail towards the pacific canal locks about 80km away. It is a rare thing for a seagoing sailboat to find a large supply of freshwater for a proper deck swabbing so the captain was happy to get to use freely available freshwater. While I was waiting for him to join me above deck at 6am, I heard one of the eeriest sounds I have ever heard. Howler monkeys. Their sound is so hauntingly eerie and frightening I was giving thanks to all that is good in the universe that they were on land and I was on a sailboat moored in the middle of the lake. If you pay close attention, you can hear them in this video. In person, their resonant sound is as ominous as the power of a foreboding storm heading your way to inflict a worrisome level of mayhem.
The westbound M55 has been shut all day between Jn1 [Preston] and Jn3 [Kirkham] with all the ubiquitous chaos around Preston and the Fylde area. Terrifyingly, it just takes one stupid individual to screw up a fragile transport system - a 34 year old has been arrested for "dangerous driving". Meanwhile, the poor old railway has been further emasculated by the lifting of the fast lines at Kirkham ... so, hey ho, it can only get worse!
All motors should be like this - by order!
Tungam or Terrifying Deities dance at Paro Dzong during Tsechu festival in Bhutan. /// La danse des déités térrifiantes pendant le festival de Paro, Bhoutan.
© David Ducoin
BOX DATE: 1992
MANUFACTURER: Mattel
RELEASES: Separately sold; 1993 Dance 'n Play Deluxe Gift Set; 1993 Classic Gift Set
BODY TYPE: 1966; Twist 'n Turn waist; straight arms; bend & snap legs
HEAD MOLD: No date; Disney
***The doll on the far right is wearing a 1987 Snow White (by Bikin) dress.
PERSONAL FUN FACT: The doll on the far left of this picture was the third Snow White doll I ever owned!!! My first had been Perfume Princess, whilst my second was a My Favorite Fairytale Snow. I can still remember vividly, like it was yesterday, when I found my third Snow White doll. It was sometime in early 2011--the late winter, early spring months. Dad was eager to take my sister and I out to flea markets since I had just gotten back into dolls (after a five year hiatus). I was desperately hoping to score some Disney dolls that day, since at the time, they were really the only type of dollies that I was planning on collecting (obviously I didn't stick to that). As we made our way down the second aisle of this huge indoor flea market, I spotted a dirty looking "Disney Classics" Snow White box on the floor in front of a booth with tons of toys. She was marked at $20 which felt like a bit too much money, especially considering the fact that she looked dirty while inside the box. I walked around the flea market, contemplating whether or not I should double back and buy her. I'm so glad I decided to return to the booth and get her, because she's come to mean so much to me, not to mention I would have gone home empty handed that day. I was so intent on getting her by that point, that I didn't even try to barter with the seller. Dad always told me that I should have gone back to the booth with him because he could have gotten Snow White for a better deal (he was right about that, because Dad was always able to barter with said seller). But this Snow White doll is priceless to me. She was one of the dolls that sparked my interest in collecting Snow White dolls. She is one of the reasons that my Snow White collection means as much to me as my Aladdin one. Without her, my collection would simply feel incomplete, and I hope to treasure her always.
A year after finding my first "Disney Classics" Snow White, I scored a second one. The third doll from the left in this photo was part of the "Happy Family bin" of 2012. She has kanekalon hair, unlike my first lady, who sports saran. You know, for a long time, I found her significantly more attractive than my formerly boxed girl. But these days, I only have eyes for my first Snow White. That's not to say that I'm not crazy about my second girly. She was pretty pathetic looking when I rescued her, but these days she is very pampered. I'll admit that for some reason her twinkly eyes look less awkward and goofy than my other two "Disney Classics" Snow White dolls. When I look at her, I take her more seriously, unlike when I gaze at doll number one or three...I always find myself having a good chuckle at their cute, funny faces!
Speaking of my third doll, she joined the ranks in 2016. She was part of the "Ken Suitcase lot" along with 86 other dollies (pictured fourth from left). She was one of the few Disney dolls, and like her Disney counterparts, she too was in rough condition. None of them had a stitch of their clothing--not Belle, not my two Sun Colors Pocahontas dolls, and not my two 1992 Tyco Little Mermaid Ariel dolls. But I would say that this Snow White doll preserved the best out of all the others. Her hair is saran, just like my first lady. However, hers is much tamer looking (I don't know what it is about my first Snow, but even after multiple boil washes, her hair just likes to stand up straight in places). Her body is a little loose, but at least she isn't chewed, unlike one of my Poca dolls. I'm glad that I was able to stuff her onto my overcrowded Snow White display. I even made her a cute little hair piece to match the peasant dress I had for her in storage (extra Disney clothes are always so handy).
My fourth, and on the far right of the photo, has perhaps the saddest story. Oddly, she is the same variation of Snow White as my first, formerly boxed girl. Currently she's the only other one to have saran hair. Anyways, Colleen and I found this Snow White in the "Oldie Moldies Lot" of 2019. One hot July Sunday morning, I spotted a large container overflowing with 90s Barbie playsets. Immediately, I rushed over to inspect the contents. Typically, Colleen and I don't buy loads of doll furniture, since it takes up a ton of space. So the furniture/large items have to be fairly complete or very unique. As we were pondering whether or not to purchase the items, and also wondering how much they cost, the seller informed us that there were two more totes of dolls/stuff that went with the bin of playsets. He wanted $30 for the three totes, but haggled himself down to $20, when he recognized us as previous buyers. Immediately I went into my wallet to get the $20 for the lot. At home, I discovered a slew of 90s Disney dolls and Barbies. There were several other Classics dolls besides Snow White. Of all the gals from the lot, I'd say she suffered the most extensive mold damage on her legs. Yes, the lot was called the "Oldie Moldies" because they were all coated in stinky, black mold. In my "Dolly Transformations" album, you can see how awful Snow's legs were originally. They were covered in brown and black stains, even after a bath. I knew that if I had not learned advanced restoration techniques as an adult collector, that this poor girl would not have been salvageable. The worst part is that the stains all came out in just two days of treatment! It's terrifyingly tragic to think of a different fate for this Snow White...one that could have ended in a landfill. Because of this, I feel extra protective/motherly of my dear old friend. I'm proud to call her a member of my doll family, even if she is a little stinkier than the other girls!
Four wasn't enough I suppose, because only a few months after getting the "Oldie Moldies Lot," I acquired a fifth Snow White! The doll second from the left was part of the "Tortured Treasures Lot" of 2020. Colleen's friend and coworker, Kathy, rescued dolls from her boyfriend's house. The dolls had been in the attic for years after his daughter outgrew them. While helping her boyfriend do some cleaning, they uncovered the file box and vintage case of Barbies. He was just going to throw them away, but Kathy stopped him. She knew Colleen and I would want the dolls and could fix them up. So she generously spared the dolls a terrible fate and brought them into work for Colleen. There were quite a few Disney dolls in the lot--all were from the early 90s, and were already in my collection. But this Snow White is perhaps the prettiest of all five! She has saran hair and a gorgeous facial screening. Plus, she had all of her fixings for the most part (I was even able to mate her lone shoe with one I had in storage)!