Humboldt Squid

We just learned about the Southern Sand Octopus.

Another type of cephalopod is the Humboldt Squid, also known as the jumbo squid, jumbo flying squid, pota, or diablo rojo (red devil).

These squid can gro from 5 feet to 8 feet long, they live in the Pacific Ocean, and usually live around 1,000 feet under the water.
Just like some other cephalopods, they can change colors from white to red, which is where they get the nickname "red devil".
Sometimes these squids will talk to other nearby squids by flashing different colors!

This squid is a hunter, and when it is hunting other small fish it uses all of its 8 arms and 2 tentacles to reach out and grab the smaller fish or other animals it is hunting, then pull them into its mouth where it has a sharp beak used to cut up and eat the animals.
They are super fast hunters and can swim up to 15 miles per hour!

Some people have been attacked by this type of squid, but scientists think that only happens when the squid are feeding on other prey and are hunting.
When these squid get angry they have even attacked and broken deep sea cameras sent down to look at nature.




(from: wikipedia - humboldt squid)


Swimming With a Humboldt Squid | Deadly 60 | BBC Earth - BBC Earth

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Banded Bullfrog

Southern Sand Octopus

We just learned about the Joubin's Squid.

Another cephalopod is the Southern Sand Octopus, also called octopus kaurna.

This octopus lives around Australia, and grows up to about 20 inches long, with very thin arms.

This octopus can not change colors like a lot of others can, so it stays hidden by burying itself in the sand.
It goes down by the bottom of the sea, and spits out a big jet of water down into the sand, then use its arms to quickly dive down into the hole it made.


(from: wikipedia - octopus kaurna)


Octopus makes its own quicksand then vanishes inside - New Scientist

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Coqui

Joubin's Squid

We just learned about the Stumpy Spined Cuttlefish.

Another type of cephalopod is the Joubin's squid, also called Joubiniteuthis portieri.

This squid lives in very deep parts of the ocean, and has some very long arms that it just leaves hanging out floating in the water to catch small animals that accidentally swim into it.

It is a very small squid and is only a little over 3 inches long.


(from: wikipedia - joubiniteuthis portieri)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Golden Mantella

Stumpy spined cuttlefish

We just learned about the Ammonoidea.

Another type of cephalopod is the Stumpy spined cuttlefish, also called the dwarf cuttlefish, or sepia bandensis.

This is a cuttlefish that is very small. It's about 3 inches long, and doesn't even weigh one pound!
They are light brown or yellow, with white spots on their heads, white stripes on their body, and blue spots on their fins.

These cuttlefish live in shallow waters near the country of Indonesia, usually by coral reefs.
One interesting thing about these cuttlefish is that they don't swim!
They use their arms and flaps on their body to walk along the floor of the sea.


(from: wikipedia - sepia bandensis)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Fox Snake

Ammonoidea

We just learned about the Flapjack Octopus.

Another type of cephalopod is the Ammonoidea, also called ammonite.

These cephalopods look a lot like a nautilus in their spiraled shell, but because of the way their body parts are inside of the shell, they are actually a lot like a squid, octopus or cuttlefish.

The spiral shaped ammonoidea get their name from a scientist a long time ago that thought the shells looked like ram's horns.
In Egyptian mythology, Ammon was shown in artwork wearing ram's horns, so the scientist Pliny the Elder named these cephalopods "ammonis cornua" which means "horns of Ammon".

Ammonites can come in many different shapes, like having sharp points on the outside of it's shell, or even shaped more like a corkscrew.

The ammonites are not around anymore, they all went extinct many years ago.






(from: wikipedia - ammonoidea)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Bumblebee Toad

Flapjack Octopus

We just learned about the Armhook Squid.

Another cephalopod is the Flapjack Octopus, also known as the opisthoteuthis californiana.

These octopuses are able to flatten themselves out very thin, almost like a pancake or flapjack, so that's where they get the nickname.

Just like the Dumbo Octopus, their arms are all webbed together like a skirt, and they also use the fins on their head or mantle to help them swim.
They very deep in the ocean, and like the Vampire Squid just eat whatever garbage is floating around in the water.

The little octopus named Pearl in the movie Finding Nemo was a Flapjack Octopus.
Unlike the movie though, the flapjack octopus does not have an ink sac, so they can not squirt out ink like Pearl does in the movie!


(from: wikipedia - opisthoteuthis californiana)


Flapjack Octopus - GirlScientist

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Common Reed Frog

Armhook Squid

We just learned about the Broadclub Cuttlefish.

Another cephalopod is the Armhook Squid, also called the Gonatidae.

These are a type of squid that don't have just normal suction cups on their arms.
Most squids have rows of two cups all the way down their arm, but the armhook squid has four, and some of the suckers are actually more like hooks.

They are red, purple or brown, they live in the ocean, and they grow to about 10 inches.





(from: wikipedia - gonatidae)



The Hidden Ocean, Arctic 2005: Boreo Atlantic Armhook Squid - oceanexplorergov

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Pacman Frog

Broadclub Cuttlefish

We just learned about the Plectronocerida.

Another type of cephalopod is the Broadclub Cuttlefish, also called sepia latimanus.

This is a type of cuttlefish living in shallow water in the pacific, that can change it's colors just like most other cuttlefish.

When these animals are hunting, sometimes they will change their colors almost like flashing lights to try and mesmerize or hypnotize their prey until they attack and gobble them up!




(from: wikipedia - sepia latimanus)



Broadclub Cuttlefish - Hypnosis - winterlike

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Central Coast Stubfoot Toad

Plectronocerida

We just learned about the White Spotted Octopus.

Another type of cephalopod is the Plectronocerida.

These are an extinct type of cephalopod like a nautilus that had a shell on it's back.
These cephalopods would crawl along the bottom of the water and eat food, almost like an underwater snail.


(from: wikipedia - plectronocerida)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Eastern Narrow Mouthed Toad

White Spotted Octopus

We just learned about the Glass Squid.

Another cephalopod is the White Spotted Octopus, also known as the grass octopus or callistoctopus macropus.
It is red, with white spots and can grow to be about 5 feet wide.
If it gets scared, it's reds and whites will get very bright to try and scare off predators.

This octopus hunts its prey by wrapping its body around a big piece of coral, and then feeling around with its arms to try and find small fish or other animals that hide out in the coral.

Some other fish like groupers will follow this octopus around to try and catch fish that try to run away when the octopus comes to the coral to hunt.


(from: wikipedia - callistoctopus macropus)



White-spotted Octopus / Polvo da Noite HD - gogoimage

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Yellow Bellied Toad

Glass Squid

We just learned about the Parapuzosia.

Another type of cephalopod is the Glass Squid, also known as the cockatoo squid, cranch squid, cranchiid or bathyscaphoid squid.

This type of squid lives in the ocean near the surface or in the middle of the water all over the world.
They are from about 4 inches long to almost 10 feet long.

They get their name because they are almost totally see through, almost like a floating piece of glass!
Because they are so clear, these squids can hide out so that their prey can not see them coming, and their predators can not come eat them.




(from: wikipedia - cranchiidae)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: African Clawed Frog

Parapuzosia

We just learned about the Giant Cuttlefish.

Another type of cephalopod is the Parapuzosia.

This animal is extinct now, but it was part of the ammonite family, which look a lot like the shelled nautilus, but are actually their own family in the world of animals.

These Parapuzosias would grow to be around 2 feet wide, but one person found pieces of an old shell showing one that was over 8 feet tall!


(from: wikipedia - parapuzosia seppenradensis)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Tomato Frog

Giant Cuttlefish

We just learned about the Mimic Octopus.

Another type of cephalopod is the Giant Cuttlefish.

This is the largest cuttlefish in the world, and they live around the southern part of Australia.

They are very colorful and can change their whole body to white, red or yellow, and very bright or very dark to try and either get the attention of other cuttlefish, or to confuse the animals they are hunting.

They also can raise up little bumps on their skin to make themselves look either bumpy or smooth, so they can look like rocks, sand or seaweed.

The giant cuttlefish is so popular in Australia, that for a festival someone made a 42 foot long parade float shaped like a cuttlefish, named "Stobie the Disco Cuttlefish" that could move its arms, blink its eyes, and had flashing lights and dance music.




(from: wikipedia - sepia apama)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Waxy Monkey Tree Frog

Mimic Octopus

We just learned about the Vampire Squid.

Another type of cephalopod is the Mimic Octopus.

This octopus lives on the sea floor, and tries to look like other animals.
It can change it's body color, puff it's head up, wave its arms around or hold its body in a certain way to look like other animals.

Sometimes it will try and look like it's prey like a crab, so that it can sneak up on the crab and eat it before the crab even figures out there is a dangerous octopus nearby.

Other times it will try and look like a poisonous animal like a lionfish, so that predators that might attack the octopus will stay away and not try to eat it.

Theses octopuses have been seen trying to look like a lion fish, sea snake, flat fish, jelly fish, crab or even a sponge!

They are very smart animals, and will decide which animal to try and look like depending on which other animal they meet.
These smart cephalopods have been seen looking like up to 15 different animals!







(from: wikipedia - mimic octopus)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Pouched Frog

Vampire Squid

We just learned about the Red Cuttlefish.

Another type of cephalopod is the Vampire Squid.

This type of squid lives in the cold deep part of the ocean, over 2,000 feet below the sea.
It is very cold and dark at this part of the ocean, and there is not a lot of oxygen or food to eat.

Even though they are called the vampire squid, they do not drink blood of other animals.
They eat waste that is floating in the water.

These vampire squids are also kind of like an octopus, so they are their own type of squid and octopus cephalopod called "Vampyromorphida".

Just like the cirroteuthis octopus that looks like it is wearing a skirt, these cephalopods have their arms all webbed together.
Inside their webbed area their arms all have little poky looking spikes called cirri on them.
They are not sharp, and the vampire squid uses them to help collect the garbage food that is floating around in the water.

If they get scared, they can light up their body with photophores that make them glow.
Mostly just at the tips of their arms and the top of their head, but their whole body can make light.
They can also spit out some glowing goo, and sometimes they flip their webbed skirt area inside out and wrap it around their head to try and scare off someone who is trying to eat them.

These cephalopods can have black skin with a red eye, or red skin with a blue eye, so you can see why someone thought they looked like a scary vampire squid!
But mostly they are just a harmless animal floating deep in the ocean eating garbage and trying not to get eaten by a bigger animal.



(from: wikipedia - vampire squid)


(from: youtube - What the vampire squid really eats | Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI))

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Gray Tree Frog

Red Cuttlefish

We just learned about the Lituites Nautilus.

Another type of cephalopod is the Red Cuttlefish, also called the Reaper Cuttlefish or sepia mestus.

This type of cuttlefish lives in the southern pacific area, and is seen a lot by divers in Australia, hiding out and waiting for prey to come by.

Just like other cuttlefish it has the ability to change to different colors, but for some reason this type of cuttlefish's favorite color is red!


(from: wikipedia - sepia mestus)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: American Bullfrog

Lituites Nautilus

We just learned about the Argonaut Octopus.

Another type of cephalopod is the Lituites Nautilus.

This is an extinct type of nautilus from long ago that we know about because of fossils found in the ocean.

Just like the Chambered Nautilus it has a coiled body like a type of snail shell, but then it straightens out at the end like the ancient Orthoceras Nautilus we learned about.


(from: wikipedia - lituites)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Poison Dart Frogs

Argonaut Octopus

We just learned about the Bigfin Reef Squid.

Another type of cephalopod is the Argonaut Octopus.

These octopuses are sometimes called a "paper nautilus" because the female argonaut will make a hard shell to lay their eggs in, and they will have part of their body in this shell, curled up and looking like a nautilus.

They lay their eggs in the shell, and then sometimes even after the eggs hatch they keep the shell and live in it.

The male argonaut does not have a shell. Both the males and females have eight arms just like all other octopuses.


(from: wikipedia - argonaut (animal))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Mimic Poison Frog & Splash-back poison frog

Bigfin Reef Squid

We just learned about the Flamboyant Cuttlefish.

Another type of cephalopod is the Bigfin Reef Squid.

These squids get their name from the big fin on their mantle that goes all the way around it.
With their shape and the way they swim, sometimes people think they are cuttlefish.

They grow to around 13 inches in just a few months, and they only live for less than a year.

Their body has a lot of different colors, and can be white, yellow, pink, brown or purple.
Sometimes when light is shined on them their body will reflect white, green or red, but they do not glow in the dark like some other cephalopods.

Because these squids grow very fast, there are people out there who try to have squid farms in the ocean, almost like cows, chicken or pigs.



(from: wikipedia - bigfin reef squid)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Golden Poison Frog

Flamboyant Cuttlefish

We just learned about the Orthoceras.

Another type of cephalopod is the Flamboyant Cuttlefish, also known as Metasepia pfefferi.

These cuttlefish are very small, only about 3 inches long.
They are very brightly colored, and also just as poisonous as the blue ringed octopus!
Like other cuttlefish it has a cuttlebone inside its body that it uses to help it swim, but its cuttlebone is very small, so it mostly just walks around on the bottom of the sea.

It is usually a dark brown color, but when it is attacked it changes its colors to patterns of black, dark brown, white, red and yellow.
When it is walking along the sea floor it waves around its red tipped upper arms to try and tell predators that it is poisonous.


(from: wikipedia - metasepia pfefferi)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Common Suriname Toad