I’m Afraid Of Cephalopods
Posted on 25. Apr, 2008 by The Gimcracker in Science
Ever since I can remember I’ve had a real fear of the following things (from least to greatest):
- 1. Voids
- 2. Cephalopods
While you’re glaring at me for using a big word that I obviously found on Wikipedia, let me touch on #1.
Voids frighten me. Remember ‘The Nothing’ from The Neverending Story? That was my first encounter with this fear. The best way I can describe it is a large, empty, dark space. The best example of a void is a cave entrance, specifically a Blue Hole:
A Blue Hole is a huge sink hole that got submerged and filled with water when the Ice Age ended. The one in these pictures is over 300 feet wide and 400 feet deep. There’s one in The Bahama’s that goes down 663 feet. That scares me.
But what genuinely frightens me more than anything else is a large cephalopod – specifically an octopus or a giant squid. I can deal with my fear of voids. I can go inside a cave as long as it has previously been explored and I’m with at least 2 other people with 2 other flashlights. But you’ll never catch me anywhere near a giant squid – alive or dead. Especially in a void.
Perhaps these pictures will say a thousand words:
That last one might not be an actual photo per se, but I bet that really happened. A lot of people are scared of spiders. A lot of other people are scared of the deep ocean. Well guess what? Squid are basically huge spiders that live in the deep ocean. And they can kill sharks. Gah!
If you’re not convinced, listen to these frightening facts about squid and octopuses:
- Squid can get up to 66 feet long
- Squid have the largest eyes of any living creature – over 1 foot in diameter
- Octopuses have three hearts
- Octopuses and squid are highly intelligent
- Octopuses can detach their own limbs which will crawl around and distract a predator
I can barely even write about this. Octopuses and squid are invertebrate, which means they can flatten their bodies and fit through small spaces. Apparently you can’t really have them as pets because with the combination of their intelligence and ability to fit through small gaps they usually end up breaking out of aquariums. Just look at this octopus escaping an aquarium through a thin crack:
And then watch this video of an octopus escaping a glass cage through a 1 inch hole:
I don’t know what it is, but I am petrified of giant squid. The following image is the most frightening image I have ever laid eyes upon. Just drink it in and tell me it doesn’t freak you out:
Look at the eyes! LOOK AT THEM! What IS that? Now imagine coming face to face with that monster in a Blue Hole.
One more thing I came across that is going on my list is Abyssal Gigantism. It’s the tendency for deep-sea dwelling animals to display a larger size than their shallow-water counterparts. Look at this little gem:
*shutter*
It’s odd that we have the exact same fears…
Okay this is just an awesome post. I was cracking up when I scrolled down to the squid grabbing the dude. And that video of the octopus getting out of the hole is just straight scary. But hey what about LOTR at the Mines of Moria? That sure looked like some sort of cephalopod.. in a void perhaps?
I saw this movie one time when I was like 9 where these people somehow got to go into outer space and they ran out of oxygen and died. …needless to say, since then I’ve been afraid of outer space.
what the HELL is that giant THINGY bathynomus gigantus looks like a giant flee
I thought about that scene outside the mines of Moria when I was posting this. If I saw that in real life I would die of shock. I also have a fear of outer space as I do with deep water because of the lack of oxygen. I wonder if that has anything to do with claustrophobia.
I saw a scary Star Trek episode once where the entire universe was shrinking around the USS Enterprise and finally their ship was the only thing left inside the universe, which was only a few hundred yards across at this point. If anyone knows what episode I’m talking about please let me know. That’s scary because they’re surrounded by a true void.
Hey, what’s outside of the universe?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080429/ap_on_sc/new_zealand_colossal_squid
Reference Burst Theory.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/04/30/colossal.squid/index.html
More Reference Burst Theory.
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