Insane in the membrane

[Mr. Blackwell]

During experiments on the axons of the Woods Hole squid (loligo pealei), we tested our cockroach leg stimulus protocol on the squid's chromatophores. The results were both interesting and beautiful. The video is a view through an 8x microscope zoomed in on the dorsal side of the caudal fin of the squid. We used a suction electrode to stimulate the fin nerve. Chromatophores are pigmeted cells that come in 3 colors: Brown, Red, and Yellow. Each chromatophore is lined with up to 16 muscles that contract to reveal their color.

Paloma T. Gonzalez-Bellido of Roger Hanlon's Lab in the Marine Resource Center of the Marine Biological Labs helped us with the preparation. You can read their latest paper at: http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2012/08/13/rspb.2012.1374





Poor squid. Almost seems like cruel and unusual punishment but eh...it's all for scientific progress no?

[kin hell]

Growing up in Tasmania, hunting and fishing, of all the things I killed to eat, squid and octopus were the ones that gave me greatest pause.

I have watched squid chromatophores cutting loose in the fridge hours and hours after death and dismemberment.

The potential intelligence of cephalopods stopped my squid jigging in the end.

The mollusc intelligentsia get a pass from my predation.

[wright]

I have watched squid chromatophores cutting loose in the fridge hours and hours after death and dismemberment.

The potential intelligence of cephalopods stopped my squid jigging in the end.

Hours after death, you say? Amazing; I'll have to find out a bit more about that. Fascinating creatures, squid and octopi.

Saw this posted on Pharyngula (of course, given Myers' preferences) as well. Maybe it's going viral.

[Garja]

No, sorry.  Too tasty.  If they were smart enough to get out of my way I wouldn't eat them. 

Had a bitching piece of octopus two days ago at a local sushi bar.... Always a little scary in land-locked-rural Ohio, but so far no intestinal parasites!

[kin hell]

I have watched squid chromatophores cutting loose in the fridge hours and hours after death and dismemberment.

The potential intelligence of cephalopods stopped my squid jigging in the end.

Hours after death, you say? Amazing; I'll have to find out a bit more about that. Fascinating creatures, squid and octopi.

Saw this posted on Pharyngula (of course, given Myers' preferences) as well. Maybe it's going viral.

I seem to recall (but we are talking decades ago now) the next morning, if you disturbed the flesh you'd still get muscle response (similar to shark)

I know a mate of mine was carving masks and skinning them in the squid skin (which obviously was a byproduct of our fresh calamari cuisine), and he too stopped for exactly the same reason.

and Garja  your punishment for eating cephalopods is being landlocked.

And until you've had a live octopus thrown on your bare skin, you haven't lived.

[Backspace]

...we tested our cockroach leg stimulus protocol on the squid's chromatophores.

Thank goodness you finally got around to it -- I've been lobbying my congressman for years to get that done.

[Nam]

The first time I had octopus was by accident but I liked it.

-Nam

[Noman Peopled]

Isn't it cool when you learn of people doing supremely cool stuff you had no inkling could possibly be done even by magic?

Happens to me all the time.