cephalopod

A remotely operated vehicle measured environmental conditions around the octopus nest site, including temperature and oxygen levels.

Why 'Hot Springs' Draw the World's Largest Gathering of Deep-Sea Octopuses

Some 20,000 octopuses congregate near an inactive underwater volcano off California's coast, using heat from thermal springs to hatch their eggs faster

Brooding octopuses at a previously unexplored site in the Pacific Ocean, off the western coast of Costa Rica

Scientists Find Rare Deep-Sea Octopus Nurseries

The team captured footage of the eight-armed creatures brooding their eggs in groups near Costa Rica

Brazilian reef octopuses, like other types of cephalopods, defend themselves against predators by inking and extending their mantles. 

Octopuses May Have Vivid Nightmares, Video Suggests

Costello, a male Brazilian reef octopus, had "bizarre" defensive outbursts while sleeping in a lab

Scientists scanned a fossil of the Jurassic cephalopod Vampyronassa, pictured here, and found clues that it was an active hunter.

What New Tech Is Revealing About Squishy, Prehistoric Cephalopods

Researchers have adopted innovative means, from cutting-edge scans to swimming robots, to reveal more about how the creatures lived

Brooding requires a significant sacrifice for a mother Bathyteuthis berryi. Though she can't feed or quickly escape from predators while carrying her eggs, she can ensure her young stay in water that has the right temperature, salinity and oxygen levels.

Watch a Deep-Sea Squid Carry Hundreds of Pearl-Like Eggs

Footage taken 56 miles off California's coast documents rarely-observed brooding behavior

The Octopus bimaculoides, or the California two-spot octopus

Scientists Figure Out Why Female Octopuses Self-Destruct After Laying Eggs

A new study finds several biochemical pathways, including one that produces a precursor to cholesterol, may be key to this behavior

An illustration of S. bideni, which is the oldest known cephalopod to have suckers along all of its arms.

Ancient Ten-Armed Octopus Relative Named for Joe Biden

The discovery of 'Syllipsimopodi bideni' pushes back the fossil record of the vampyropods by over 82 million years

Female octopuses were far more likely than males to 'throw' objects at others.

Female Octopuses Throw Things at Male Harassers

Scientists observed common Sydney octopuses launching shells and silt at particularly annoying individuals

These baby bobtail squid going to the International Space Station for an experiment that examines whether space alters the symbiotic relationship between the squid and a bioluminescent bacterium that allows them to glow.

NASA Is Launching Tardigrades and Baby Squid Into Space

The experiments could help astronauts stay healthy and survive longer outside Earth’s atmosphere

Traditionally, when taxonomists examine a potentially new species of octopus, they dissect them, an approach that is highly invasive and nearly destroys the specimen.

New Species of Dumbo Octopus Identified Using 3-D Imaging Techniques

Techniques such as MRI and CT scans may allow researchers to identify and study rare sea specimens without the need for dissection

A viral video shows an octopus (not pictured) lashing out at an Australian tourist in shallow water.

A Very Angry Octopus Goes Viral After Lashing Out at an Australian Tourist

A video posted to social media captures the cephalopod's arm-flinging attack

Cephalopods like cuttlefish have donut-shaped brains with dozens of lobes

Cuttlefish Show Impressive Ability to Exert Self-Control

The clever cephalopods ignored so-so food for up to 130 seconds in order to get their favorite snack, live grass shrimp

An octopus in the Red Sea engaged in a collaborative hunt with several fish.

Watch Octopuses Sucker-Punch Fish

Researchers caught the eight-armed sea creatures in the Red Sea slugging fish during collaborative hunts

A still from the first ever video of a live ram's head squid in the wild.

See Strange Squid Filmed in the Wild for the First Time

The elusive creature is called the ram’s horn squid after a spiral-shaped internal shell that is often found by beachcombers

New research identifies a previously unknown type of nerve cell inside octopus suckers that the cephalopods use like taste buds.

Octopuses Taste Food With Special Cells in Their Suckers

New study reveals biology behind one of the octopus' many super powers

The Pacific bigfin squid Magnapinna pacifica in the Smithsonian collections that Mike Vecchione and Richard E. Young used to describe the deepest-known species of squid.

The Wonderfully Weird World of Deep-Sea Squids

For this month's "Meet a SI-entist," the Smithsonian's curator of cephalopods says these are the "intelligent invertebrates"

Release the Kraken!

The Legend, the History and the Science Behind Seattle's New Hockey Team Name

NHL fans, meet the Seattle Kraken—named for a mythical beast that may have been inspired by the very real giant squid

A group of Humboldt squid swim in formation about 200 meters below the surface of Monterey Bay

Deep-Sea Squids Glow to Communicate in the Dark

Researchers suggest that the Humboldt squid uses bioluminescent backlighting for visual cues in the dark deep sea

Greg Lecoeur won the title of Underwater Photographer of the Year 2020 for his Frozen Mobile Home, a playful snapshot of seals circling an iceberg.

Dazzling Display of Seals Wins Underwater Photographer of the Year Award

French photographer Greg Lecoeur triumphed over more than 5,500 submissions from hundreds of artists around the world

By studying the genome of a kind of octopus not known for its friendliness toward its peers, then testing its behavioral reaction to a popular mood-altering drug called MDMA or 'ecstasy,' scientists say they have found preliminary evidence of an evolutionary link between the social behaviors of the sea creature and humans, species separated by 500 million years on the evolutionary tree.

Ecstasy Turns Antisocial Octopuses Into Lovestruck Cuddle Buddies—Just Like Us

The genetic and neurological similarities between octopuses and humans shed light on how creatures became social beings

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