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Octosquid!
This is kind of old news now, but better late than never: A new species of squid has been found off the coast of Hawaii that has eight arms. The discoverers called it an "octosquid". [Honolulu Star Bulletin article]
![[octosquid]](http://www.sahelidatta.com/mf/files/2007/07/octosquid.jpg)
It isn't actually a cross between an octopus and a squid. Rather, it's a member of the squid genus Mastigoteuthis, but of a previously unknown species. Wikipedia now has an octosquid article which explains that most squid have eight arms and two tentacles, but this one does not have the tentacles. (I never knew that there was a difference between arms and tentacles! I just thought that squid had ten tentacles.)
The Wikipedia article also points out that this is actually not so unprecedented. Squid in the family Octopoteuthidae also have eight arms and no tentacles. In fact, there are already a couple of species called the Ruppell's Octopus Squid and the Dana Octopus Squid. But it's still fun. :)
Comments (3)
quote:
"A new species of squid has been found off the coast of Hawaii that has eight arms."
Which coast of Hawaii has eight arms?
Posted on Jul-15-2007 | Link
Yes yes, it should be "A new species of squid with eight arms has been found off the coast of Hawaii." Apologies for the misplaced modifier.
Posted on Jul-16-2007 | Link
Is this another red herring from Wikipedia? Just wondering. You can't be too sure of anything these days. :-)
Posted on Aug-21-2007 | Link