Mollusks, features and articles | Educational Science

Oct 14, 2022

True to Their Name, Vampire Squid May Have Long Lives

No one has ever seen vampire squid mate in the wild. But new research hints that the deep-sea creatures have a reproductive strategy that sets them apart from other cephalopods. While most female squid and octopuses have just one reproductive cycle before they die, vampire squid go through dozens of...

Oct 14, 2022

Night Vision Helps With Camouflage In Briny Deep

Marine masters of disguise and octopus relatives, cuttlefish can instantaneously camouflage themselves against any background--even in the dark of night, proving that they must have extremely fine-tuned night vision, according to a new study. Cuttlefish, octopuses and squid are members of a group of animals called cephalopods, which have evolved...

Oct 14, 2022

Squid 'Sees' with Its Skin (No Eyes Needed)

Squid, cuttlefish and octopuses are masters of camouflage, capable of changing their skin colors and patterns in the blink of an eye. And they may not even need their eyes to do it. Two new studies, published this week in the Journal of Experimental Biology, find that cephalopod skin is...

Nov 4, 2022

Giant purpleblack flying squid photobombs crew investigating shipwreck

Scientists mapping the seafloor in the Gulf of Aqaba, the right antenna part of the northern Red Sea, recently made two remarkable sightings almost simultaneously: a sunken shipwreck and a mysterious big squid zipping around it, according to the marine research organization OceanX. After sending down a remotely operated vehicle...

Nov 27, 2022

What is the largest squid in the world?

Legends about gargantuan squid have existed for millennia, with photos confirming their existence nearly 150 years ago. But what is the largest squid in the world? Depending on how you measure, there are two contenders. The giant squid (Architeuthis dux) is the longest squid, and the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni)...

Jan 16, 2023

Squid and human brains develop the same way despite diverging 500 million years ago

Scientists who watched nerve cells connect inside the eyes of growing squid have uncovered a remarkable secret — the cephalopods’ brains independently evolved to develop in the same way ours do. The discovery, made using high-resolution cameras focused on the retinas of longfin squid (Doryteuthis pealeii) embryos, reveals that, in...

Jan 20, 2023

Diver captures stunning photos of rare 8-foot giant squid

A diver in Japan swam alongside an unusual companion earlier this month: An 8.2-foot-long (2.5 meter) giant squid. Yosuke Tanaka, who co-runs Dive Resort T-Style with his wife in Toyooka City, Japan, got the opportunity on Jan. 6 when a local ferryman called him to say that there was a...

Aug 22, 2023

Watch a see-through squid with demon-like eyes swim in Alaska's deep waters

An alien-looking, see-through squid with demonic red eyes has been filmed in the deep waters off the coast of Alaska. Researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ocean Exploration team spotted the glass squid (Taonius borealis) on July 15 while operating a remote-operated vehicle (ROV) at a depth...

Sep 18, 2023

Watch elusive, sucker-less squid in rare footage captured off the Galapagos

A research vessel off the coast of the Galapagos Islands recently spotted a rarely seen, ghostly squid with weak, sucker-less tentacles floating in the deep, marking only the second time this elusive species has ever been filmed alive. Researchers from the Schmidt Ocean Institute, in collaboration with the Charles Darwin...

Dec 1, 2023

Adorable, newfound pygmy squid species named after Japanese forest fairies

Two new species of pygmy squid have been found in the subtropical waters of a Japanese island. These cephalopods, which are smaller than paper clips, find refuge in the coral beds and seagrass fields of Okinawa and take their names from- fairies in Japanese folklore and martial arts. The two...

Jan 4, 2024

Black-eyed squid dragging thousands of eggs like a cape captured in video off Costa Rica

A deep-sea squid has been filmed gliding through inky waters with thousands of eggs suspended from its arms. Researchers spotted the black-eyed squid (Gonatus onyx) — one of the few squids known to brood their eggs — off the coast of Costa Rica in December. Mesmerizing footage shows the squid...

Jan 25, 2006

Snails That Fly Around the World

The chicken may have just wanted to get to the other side of the road, but here's a real puzzler: Why did the snail travel 5,500 miles from Europe to an island in the South Atlantic? New research reveals that it was most likely stuck to a bird. Snails of...

Feb 28, 2007

Snails Save Energy by Re-Using Mucus Trails

In order to conserve valuable energy, snails essentially play a game of follow-the-leader, a new study finds. Snails create trails of mucus to that help them glide across the ground, mainly in search of food or a partner, but making all that mucus uses up a lot of energy. Snails...

Sep 19, 2007

Ancient Polynesian Fashion Explains Snail Mystery

For more than a century, scientists have puzzled over how Tahitian tree snails slugged from Tahiti to two relatively distant Polynesian islands. Even more mind boggling, while the Tahiti snails sport a range of shell colors, the island-hoppers are all white. Finally, the case has been solved. And it's all...

Oct 31, 2007

Snails Fashion Their Own Camouflage

Some snails take organic fashion to a new, and disgusting, level. A land snail on the Canary Islands slurps up crusty lichens and applies them with its mouth to paint mounds of the mucky cover-up onto its shell. The result is a camouflaged snail that's not much of a looker....