Cephalopod News

Big news about vampire squid! Their Japanese name "koumori-dako" means "bat-octopus," which is objectively better and I'll be using it from now on. Why? Well, this species is much more closely related to octopuses than to squid, and while it has nothing in common with vampires, its webbed arms do look like bat wings.

That's not the news, though. The news is that scientists sequenced the bat octopus genome and it's enormous.

How big? Eleven billion base pairs! That's several times bigger than an octopus or human genome, which are both about 3 billion. And, because vampire squid bat octopuses have been around a lot longer than other octopuses, this indicates that the group had a huge genome expansion early in its evolution (mammals did something similar!), and octopuses later pared theirs down.

Speaking of other octopuses, the giant gelatinous Haliphron atlanticus recently showed up on a beach and in gorgeous underwater footage!

Unfortunately, its common name “seven-arm octopus” a) only describes males, and b) actually doesn't even describe males. The males appear seven-armed because one of their arms is modified for mating and hidden in a pouch—a trait shared by several other octopus species, including argonauts.

So I’ve decided to call Haliphron atlanticus the jelly octopus! They share the consistency of jelly, they eat jellyfish, and they may even use jellyfish as tools to capture other prey.

My News

It was an honor to contribute to this story by Skyler Ware, “Diversifying Your Freelance Work for Stability and Joy.” It let me reflect on how and why I’ve arrived at my current career of writing, speaking, and drawing for a variety of audiences. And it was a special treat to see one of my quotes in the “kicker” or closing.

It’s December; let’s talk gifts.

Do you know any doting parents? How about childless people who (correctly?) perceive babies as monsters? Nursery Earth is an educational and validating gift for both extremes, and everyone in between!

I’ve been informed, in fact, than many of my books make tentacular gifts. Furthermore, I have art available on cards, clothes, magnets and more on both Zazzle and Redbubble. This is the season’s most popular design so far:

Funny Pages

When I proposed “jelly octopus” as the new common name for Haliphron atlanticus, I noted that this animal does not make tasty preserves.