From Life Magazine Special - Strange But True: 100 of the World's Weirdest Wonders
Purchase here!
Where to begin with the octopus? An invertebrate—no bones—it is basically just a head with arms (eight of them, as any schoolkid knows). Its three hearts, pumping the mysterious mollusk's light-blue blood, are located in the head, as are the stomach and all the other vital organs. Did you know that in its mouth is a beak, hard as a parrot's? And that the mouth is completely encircled by those flexible arms with the suckers on them, which are used to grab and sample foods? Into the beak go preferred treats such as clams and crab or lobster meat.
There are 300 types of octopus inhabiting mostly tropical and subtropical waters, some are only about half an inch across, while the giant Pacific octopus can grow to 30 feet and 600 pounds. When threatened, an octopus can change color as a means of camouflage or aggression by deploying pigment cells attached to its muscles and controlled by its nervous system: An octopus that has turned white is afraid; one that's turned red is angry. (Other possibilities are blue, gray, purple, brown and, yes, striped.) Under extreme duress, it excretes a poisonous ink and darts away behind the obscuring cloud. The common octopus is considered the smartest of all invertebrates.
Even more bizarre than the octopus are the denizens of a dark world extending down from 1,000 to 27,000 feet, the mesopelagic species and bottom-feeding benthic fish—anglerfish, swallowers, eels and a creature known in the oceanographic world as "the vampire squid from hell." They resemble ancient animals rather than anything else alive today, and possess radar, ferocious dental work and a talent for bio luminescence. The members of this deepwater menagerie seem to have sprung full-blown from the imaginations of artist Hieronymus Bosch or director Tim Burton, yet they are part of our world.
From Life Magazine Special - Strange But True: 100 of the World's Weirdest Wonders
Purchase here!
No comments:
Post a Comment