Post Syndicated from Bruce Schneier original https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2022/05/friday-squid-blogging-squid-filmed-changing-color-for-camouflage-purposes.html

Video of oval squid (Sepioteuthis lessoniana) changing color in reaction to their background. The research paper claims this is the first time this has been documented.

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Post Syndicated from Bruce Schneier original https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2022/04/friday-squid-blogging-squid-skin-inspired-insulating-material.html

Interesting:

Drawing inspiration from cephalopod skin, engineers at the University of California, Irvine invented an adaptive composite material that can insulate beverage cups, restaurant to-go bags, parcel boxes and even shipping containers.

[…]

“The metal islands in our composite material are next to one another when the material is relaxed and become separated when the material is stretched, allowing for control of the reflection and transmission of infrared light or heat dissipation,” said Gorodetsky. “The mechanism is analogous to chromatophore expansion and contraction in a squid’s skin, which alters the reflection and transmission of visible light.”

Chromatophore size changes help squids communicate and camouflage their bodies to evade predators and hide from prey. Gorodetsky said by mimicking this approach, his team has enabled “tunable thermoregulation” in their material, which can lead to improved energy efficiency and protect sensitive fingers from hot surfaces.

Research paper.

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Post Syndicated from Bruce Schneier original https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2022/04/friday-squid-blogging-squid-migration-and-climate-change.html

New research on the changing migration of the Doryteuthis opalescens as a result of climate change.

News article:

Stanford researchers have solved a mystery about why a species of squid native to California has been found thriving in the Gulf of Alaska about 1,800 miles north of its expected range: climate change.

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Post Syndicated from Bruce Schneier original https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2022/03/friday-squid-blogging-unexpectedly-low-squid-population-in-the-arctic.html

Research:

Abstract: The retreating ice cover of the Central Arctic Ocean (CAO) fuels speculations on future fisheries. However, very little is known about the existence of harvestable fish stocks in this 3.3 million­–square kilometer ecosystem around the North Pole. Crossing the Eurasian Basin, we documented an uninterrupted 3170-kilometer-long deep scattering layer (DSL) with zooplankton and small fish in the Atlantic water layer at 100- to 500-meter depth. Diel vertical migration of this central Arctic DSL was lacking most of the year when daily light variation was absent. Unexpectedly, the DSL also contained low abundances of Atlantic cod, along with lanternfish, armhook squid, and Arctic endemic ice cod. The Atlantic cod originated from Norwegian spawning grounds and had lived in Arctic water temperature for up to 6 years. The potential fish abundance was far below commercially sustainable levels and is expected to remain so because of the low productivity of the CAO.

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Post Syndicated from Bruce Schneier original https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2022/03/friday-squid-blog-328-million-year-old-vampire-squid-ancestor-discovered.html

A fossilized ancestor of the vampire squid — with ten arms — was discovered and named Syllipsimopodi bideni after President Biden.

Here’s the research paper. Note: Vampire squids are not squids. (Yes, it’s weird.)

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Post Syndicated from Bruce Schneier original https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2022/02/friday-squid-blogging-are-squid-from-another-planet.html

An actually serious scientific journal has published a paper speculating that octopus and squid could be of extraterrestrial origin.

News article.

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Post Syndicated from Bruce Schneier original https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2021/12/friday-squid-blogging-deep-dwelling-squid.html

We have discovered a squid — (Oegopsida, Magnapinnidae, Magnapinna sp.) — that lives at 6,000 meters deep.

:They’re really weird,” says Vecchione. “They drift along with their arms spread out and these really long, skinny, spaghetti-like extensions dangling down underneath them.” Microscopic suckers on those filaments enable the squid to capture their prey.

But the squid that Jamieson and Vecchione saw in the footage captured 6,212 meters below the ocean’s surface is a small one. They estimate that its mantle measured 10 centimeters long — ­about a third the size of the largest-known magnapinnid. And the characteristically long extensions observed on other magnapinnids were nowhere to be seen in the video. That could mean, says Vecchione, that this bigfin squid was a juvenile.

Research paper.

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