Entries Tagged "squid"

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Friday Squid Blogging: Sex Life of Deep-Sea Squid

There’s evidence of indiscriminate fertilization in deep-sea squid. They mate with any other squid the encounter, male or female.

This unusual behaviour, they said, may be explained by the fact the squid is boosting its chances of successfully passing on its genes in the challenging environment it lives in.

In the Royal Society paper the team writes: “In the deep, dark habitat where O. deletron lives, potential mates are few and far between.

“We suggest that same-sex mating behaviour by O. deletron is part of a reproductive strategy that maximises success by inducing males to indiscriminately and swiftly inseminate every [squid] that they encounter.”

Basically, they can’t tell males from females in the dark waters, so it just makes sense to mate with everybody.

The press is reporting this as homosexuality or bisexuality, but it’s not. It’s indiscriminate fertilization. PZ Myers explains.

Posted on September 23, 2011 at 4:28 PMView Comments

Friday Squid Blogging: SQUIDS Game

It’s coming to the iPhone and iPad, then to other platforms:

In SQUIDS, players will command a small army of stretchy, springy sea creatures to protect an idyllic underwater kingdom from a sinister emerging threat. An infectious black ooze is spreading through the lush seascape, turning ordinary crustaceans into menacing monsters. Now a plucky team of Squids­each with unique personalities, skills, and ability-boosting attire­must defend their homeland and overturn the evil forces that jeopardize their aquatic utopia.

More:

…which they describe as Angry Birds meets Worms, with RPG elements. “For the universe, Audrey and I share a passion for cephalopods of all sorts, and that was a perfect match with the controls I had in mind,” Thoa said.

As before, use the comments to this post to write about and discuss security stories that don’t have their own post.

Posted on September 2, 2011 at 4:44 PMView Comments

Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Fishing in Ulleungdo, Korea

The industry is in decline:

A generation ago, most of the island’s 10,000 residents worked in the squid industry, either as sellers like Kim or as farmer-fishermen who toiled in the fields each winter and went to sea during summer.

Ulleungdo developed a reputation for large, tasty squid that were once exported to the mainland and Japan. The volcanic island, which can be circumnavigated in three hours by car, is also known for its seaside cliffs and picturesque views, which have begun to attract more tourists.

The number of mainlanders who visit here has risen from 160,000 a decade ago to 250,000 last year. Meanwhile, the total squid catch has decreased by more than a third. Nowadays only 20% of islanders work in the squid industry, with many having shifted to the tourism trade, said Park Su-dong, a manager in the island’s marine and fisheries office.

As before, use the comments to this post to write about and discuss security stories that don’t have their own post.

Posted on August 26, 2011 at 3:40 PMView Comments

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Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.