I Love Cephalopods

Do you like tentacles?

I'm fascinated by all sea creatures but in particular cephalopods give me endless inspiration for my artwork. So this lens is all about my love of tentacled animals.

So What is a Cephalopod?

Cephalopod come from the Greek meaning "head foot". They are considered the most intelligent of the invertebrates (animals without backbones).

The molusc class cephalopoda contains modern squid, octopus, cuttlefish, and nautilus. Prominent features of cephalopods are of course the tentacles, ability to produce ink, and blue blood. Most species of cephalopods are soft bodied with the mollusc shell having been internalized or completely absent (squid, ocopus, and cuttlefish). Only a small number of living cephalopods retain an external shell (the nautilus) along with many extinct species such as ammonites and belemnites.

Teuthology is the study of cephalopods.

Featured Cephalopod Lenses

The Kraken: Giant Squid and Other Sea Monsters

The Kraken is a giant Cephalopod of the deep seas infamous in sailing lore. Described as a massive, many-tentacled Squid or Octopus large enough and strong enough to crush large wooden sea vessels and devour entire crews, the mere mention of the crea...

All Cephalopods: The Greatest Cephalopods Ever

Squid, octopus, cuttlefish, nautilus, along with several extinct varieties make up the cephalopods. Cephalopods are the smartest of all invertebrates and with their tentacles and color changing skin they are soem of the strangest creatures in the sea...

Cephalopedia: The Urban Cephalopod Encyclopedia

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Chambered Nautilus

Nautiluses typically have more tentacles than other cephalopods, up to ninety, but what really sets them apart is that they are the only cephalopod still in existence with a shell.0 points

Tentacled Links

Sites with information and pictures of cephalopods.

Octopus, Squid, Cuttlefish, and Nautilus - The Cephalopod Page: The Cephalopod Page features the class of marine mollusks that includes nautilus, squid, cuttlefish, and octopus. Some of Dr. Wood's recent work was featured in the Blue Realm Discovery Channel Special 'Tentacles'.
CephBase - Cephalopod (Octopus, Squid, Cuttlefish and Nautilus) Database: CephBase is a dynamic database-driven web page on cephalopods (octopus, squid, cuttlefish and nautilus). Complete classification of the 786 species, synonymies, common names, images, videos, predator and prey data, distribution data (including real-time plots),and 5000+ reference database are includ
Cephalopod - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Cephalopod From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cephalopod Information - Coral Sea Cephalopods - nautilus, octopus and cuttlefish: Cephalopod research in the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef - cephalopods include nautilus, octopus and cuttlefish
cephalopod centerfold: Cephalopod blog.
Cephalopodcast.com - The Ocean Podcast: Cephalopodcast: The Ocean Podcast / science edu + ocean info
ABC News: Monster Sea Creature Gets Thawed: Marine scientists in New Zealand on Tuesday were thawing the corpse of the largest squid ever caught to try to unlock the secrets of one of the ocean's most mysterious beasts.
Octopuses, Squids, Cuttlefishes, and Nautiluses: The Fascinating World of Cephalopods: There are about 700 species of cephalopods throughout the world's oceans. Octopuses and squids are the best known, but the group also includes cuttlefishes and nautiluses.

Cool Cephalopod Facts

1. Most cephalopods have short lifespans only living for 1 or 2 years, the exception is the nautilus which can live up to 15 years.

2. Chromataphores are the color changing cells that many cephalopods have which allow them to change color to hide from predators, attract mates, or scare off rival and predators.

3. Many cephalopods like the blue ringed octopus and the flamboyant cuttlefish are highly venomous.

4. Cephalopods are considered the most intelligent of all invertebrates (animals without backbones), showing problem solving and simple tool use abilities.

5. The earliest cephalopods all had shells like other moluscs. Over millions of years most cephalopods evolved to have no external shell at all. The only cephalopod to still have a true shell is the nautilus.

Cephalopod News from Google

Friday Cephalopod: a subtle overlord in blue pastels: Stay abreast of your favorite bloggers' latest and greatest via e-mail, via a daily digest. (Ema...
Pathological cephalopod: Cephalopod limb patterning doesn't involve any branching elements, unlike vertebrate limbs which...
Giant squid found off Monterey coast: Researchers are fairly certain it's a giant squid, as opposed to another type of cephalopod. As...
Three dopes sitting around a table: Roger Hanlon has been doing some marvelous work on cephalopod behavior and camouflage; I have no ide...

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Kinetic Sculpture of a Giat Squid on YouTube

"Giant Squid" 2006 www.nemomatic.com

Giant Squid is a kinetic sculpture from found materials by artist Nemo Gould.

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Cephalopod Art by Sheryl "Noadi" Westleigh.

Click the images for more information and larger images.

My artwork inspired by our tentacled friends.

Squid Sculpture
6 inch long squid suspended from kelp. Sculpted from polymer clay.

Perma-Pets
Perma-pets are sculpted polymer clay sea creatures which come encased in a cute glass jar with a sculpted lid filled with a clear acrylic resin.

Mixed Perma-Pets - Octopuppies, cuddlefish, and nudibranchs (the latter is not a cephalopod but is a mollusc).

Cuttlefish Jewelry
Tentacle pendants named after H.P. Lovecraft's creation.