rhamphotheca:

To Sex-Starved Squid in the Dark, Either Gender Will Do

by Stephanie Pappas

Meeting girls is tough if you’re a male squid living in the deep, dark waters off the coast of California. You may run across your own species only rarely — and when you do, the deep-sea gloom makes it hard to tell whether your new pal is a guy or gal.

But one squid species has come up with a work-around to this matchmaking problem, a new study finds. The eight-armed lotharios simply mate with any squid of their species that crosses their path. If that means wasting some sperm on male-to-male matings, the squid don’t seem to mind.

This same-sex squid behavior can’t necessarily be taken as more evidence of homosexual bonding in the wild, according to study researcher Henk-Jan Hoving, a postdoctoral researcher at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, Calif. Rather, the squid seem to mate indiscriminately out of necessity…

(read more: Live Science)

Deep Sea critters.

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the mariana trench is full of aliens. click-through for more.

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brettjohn:

Scientists say dolphins should be treated as ‘non-human persons’

Dolphins have been declared the world’s second most intelligent creatures after humans, with scientists suggesting they are so bright that they should be treated as “non-human persons”.

Studies into dolphin behaviour have highlighted how similar their communications are to those of humans and that they are brighter than chimpanzees. These have been backed up by anatomical research showing that dolphin brains have many key features associated with high intelligence.

The researchers argue that their work shows it is morally unacceptable to keep such intelligent animals in amusement parks or to kill them for food or by accident when fishing. Some 300,000 whales, dolphins and porpoises die in this way each year.

“Many dolphin brains are larger than our own and second in mass only to the human brain when corrected for body size,” said Lori Marino, a zoologist at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, who has used magnetic resonance imaging scans to map the brains of dolphin species and compare them with those of primates.

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The Dumbo Octopus is strange compared to others of its kind as it prefers to swallow its prey whole. When down on the sea bed Dumbo Octopus will feast mainly on worms and crustaceans, and when away from the sea bed they will eat pelagic cope-pods.

allcreatures:

Two male seahorses, either pregnant or ready to mate.
‘When the male is full with the precious cargo, he wanders off, his bright mating costume already fading. He sways and wiggles his body, settling the eggs into ­position where they will remain for the next few weeks, growing in a protected ­internal pond.’ Photograph: Clive Bromhall/Getty Images/Photolibrary RM

The Guardian | The Secret Life of Seahorses

allcreatures:

US Navy oceanographer John Bleidorn photographed the millions of jellyfish in the appropriately named Jellyfish Lake in Palau. The Golden Jellyfish have evolved seperately from their ocean dwelling cousins and have lost most of their sting. Picture: JOHN BLEIDORN / BARCROFT MEDIA. via telegraph uk