Mass Octopus Death in Portugal

What is killing the octopus of Vila Nova de Gaia?

That question has obsessed the Portuguese city — located just across the Douro River from Porto — since Jan. 2, when 1,100 lb. (500 kg) of dead octopus were found on a 1.8-mile (3 km) stretch of local beach.

The following day, another 110 lb. (50 kg) appeared; later there was just one expired creature.

"It's very strange that so many should be killed, and in such a confined area," says Nuno Oliveira, director of the Gaia Biological Park, a nature refuge on the outskirts of Vila Nova de Gaia. "There's nothing in the scientific literature for this kind of mass mortality among octopus."



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1951644,00.html#ixzz1BTp1GzVe

Loyal Minion of Cthulhu Dies !

Pftagn in R'lyeh, Paul.
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Paul, World Cup 'psychic' octopus, dies in Germany
26 October 2010

BERLIN – Paul the octopus, who shot to fame during this year's football World Cup for his flawless record in predicting game results, has died peacefully in his sleep, his German aquarium said Tuesday.

"Management and staff at the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre were devastated to discover that oracle octopus Paul, who achieved global renown during the recent World Cup, had passed away overnight," the aquarium said in a statement.

"He appears to have passed away peacefully during the night, of natural causes," said Sea Life manager Stefan Porwoll.

Paul, Minion of Cthulhu, Is Worshipped

It's been more than a month since Spain won the World Cup and Paul the octopus won the hearts of the human world (except the Dutch) by perfectly predicting the winners of Germany's seven matches and Spain's victory in the final.

He has starring roles in Chinese movies, book deals and a line of merchandise all in the works.

Finally, if you were doubting Paul's idol status, at the India International Jewelry Show on Friday (20 August 2010), a likeness of Paul made of 3.3 kilograms (7.3 pounds) of solid gold was unveiled. It's valued at exactly $133,404.
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Link: click

A Lovecraftian Sight: Flying Minions of Cthulhu?

'Flying Octopuses'

...on July 31st and August 1, 2010, a new world record was set for the most giant octopus kites flown at one time ... in Berkeley California ...

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/photo/view/flying_octopuses/46902

The Minions of Cthulhu

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Researchers have discovered four new species of octopus in Antarctica with venom that works at sub-zero temperatures*.

Their discovery, during a six-week expedition to Antarctica in 2007, was published in the journal Toxicon.

Experts have long known there were octopuses in Antarctica, but what surprised Fry and his colleagues was the sheer biodiversity and how natural selection changed the way they hunted and the nature of their venom.

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"...venom that works at sub-zero temperatures ..." - well, of course it does!

The Minions of Cthulhu Know All

Octopus oracle picks Spain to win World Cup

BERLIN (AP)—Eyes around the world were on Germany’s octopus oracle Paul on Friday as he made his biggest prediction yet in the World Cup: Spain will beat the Netherlands in the final.

Paul’s prescient picks in the World Cup—he has yet to predict a match wrong—have propelled him to international fame from obscurity in an aquarium in the western city of Oberhausen.

TV stations in Germany, Great Britain, Taiwan and elsewhere broadcast live pictures, complete with breathless commentary, of his final decision.

Millions watched as the eight-legged oracle descended upon on a tank marked with a Spanish flag, sitting for only a few minutes before grabbing a mussel and devouring it, while completely ignoring the Dutch tank—indicating a Spanish victory in Sunday’s final match in Sunday’s final.

It was the first time the 2 1/2-year-old floppy octopus had been tasked to pick a game in which Germany wasn’t involved, as the Oberhausen Sea Life aquarium bowed to demand. He correctly called Germany’s wins over Argentina, England, Australia and Ghana and the country’s loss to Spain and Serbia.

He also predicted Friday that Germany will win over Uruguay in Saturday’s match for third and fourth place.

Paul first developed his abilities during the 2008 European Championship in which he predicted five out of six games involving Germany correctly. But while he had only a community of local fans two years ago, his World Cup prognostications have brought him something like stardom. He has his own Facebook fan pages and a list of admirers that includes the Spanish leader.

His handlers say he is coping with fame well.

A Tentacular Spectacular

We bring you all things tentacular, so enjoy this video. It's went viral. At the end ask yourself once again - who is at the top of the food chain?

More on Aliens

From a just published article. "The face of first contact: What aliens look like"
Summary of article:

Note that the lead off phrase is typically Lovecraftian showing how permeated our society has become with the Mythos.

TENTACLED monsters? … nobody knows what features we will behold if and when humans and aliens come face-to-face. Or face to squirmy something. Despite this lack of hard evidence, a blend of astronomy and earthly biology offers some clues to what is out there.

If first contact turns out to be within our solar system, then … we have some prior knowledge about the available habitats. … The subsoil of Mars may be warm enough to host microbes akin to Earth's bacteria, … there could be larger beasts swimming in the watery oceans of some outer moons of the solar system - especially Jupiter's moon Europa. …{a} chance that a deep aquatic ocean lies beneath Europa's ice.


… the energy supplied by … vents could feed a large population of microbes, which in turn could support a pyramid of predators. Europa's top predator, the equivalent of our great white shark, would be a fearsome creature with a mass … about 1 gram. … a shrimp-sized organism … {or a} hypothetical ice worm.

The clouds of Venus … pretty destructive to bags of water like ourselves … could {host} acid-dwellers … formed of … flexible polymers. … On Saturn's moon Titan … chilled hydrocarbon cocktail of ethane and methane … might {harbor} bigger {life} the surface tension in a methane-ethane blend is much lower, so … {maybe} boulder-sized microbes moving over the surface and guzzling up hydrocarbons. At around 93 kelvin, … The lifetime of such an organism may be 10,000 years, or perhaps as much as a million."

{Greater organisms} might even have hands .. maybe it's an antenna, maybe a tentacle …maybe an octopus would look at us and think 'How can you expect this organism to develop technology with its two clumsy front limbs?'"

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527441.400-the-face-of-first-contact-what-aliens-look-like.html?page=2

Microscopic Cthulhu?

This is a microscopic octopus captured while doing plankton research. It was originally a National Geographic image, but the page is apparently taken down.

Life is not only alien, it exists in places nearly inconceivable to us.

How can the Minions of Cthulhu Survive Volcanic Stresses?

This shows how an octopus can survive volcanic environments.
It's roughly 10 minutes long.
Very dramatic footage.



On a fictional flight of fancy, I suggest that when the Sleeping One arrived on Earth, the mos intelligent and interesting animal was the cephalopod, and that is the immediate form that the Sleeping One assumed - since the sentient servant of the Old Ones was undoubtedly made of a form of dark energy beyond our ken.

Men are so fragile, so puny, so incosequential - the cephalopod is an obvious form to morph into.

:)

More Real Life Cthulhu Science

Ivan Amato, Newscripts, Chemical and Engineering News, March 30, 2009, p.64

At the HPLblog we bring cutting edge Real-Life Cthulhu science as it happens. Chrispy is of the opinion that while Cthulhu may be a creature of exotic dark energy, upon his arrival to and just before he fell to sleep under the Earth’s surface millions of years ago, he looked about and saw and admired the elegant intelligent cephalopod, and immediately adopted that form. Therefore the more we know of these mysterious creatures, the more we shall understand of the wisdom and madness of dread Cthulhu.

{Just} as kids love candy, … giant squid, octopods, and other deep-sea cephaopodsike to stuff … their beaks ... {but} the only thing that remains … in whale’s stomachs are chitinized beaks. A French research team … with a cache of beaks from nearly 20 cephalod species retrieved from the stomachs of htree sperm whale s that had become stranded in the Bay of Biscay in 2001. The scientists from the National Center for Scientific Research and the Universit of La Rochelle used a high-end mass spectrometer {a device that blasts apart molecules, scans them, and compares the residue to known molecular and ionic structures thus determining what unknown elements are present in a compound}. The measured 13C and 15N indicators of {whether the food in their beaks was of deep sea or surface origin}.

In a recent Biology Letters the scientists indicated that the squids and octopods {had been eating} in deep oceanic beds, not along the continental shelf. The species spanned 1.5 trophic levels similar to dolphins {and whales}. The giant squid, Taningia dinae, is an aggressive top {of the food chain} predator. The giant octopus, Haliphron atlanticus, dwells higher in the water column, and is eaten more often.

Cthulhu's Child Makes An Escape Attempt?

Octopus floods Santa Monica Pier Aquarium: The mollusk diassembles a valve at the top of her tank, flooding the place with some 200 gallons of seawater.

By Bob Pool February 27, 2009
It's not surprising that with eight arms and inquisitive nature, the two-spotted octopus is pretty handy around its tank at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium.

Still, those reporting for work Thursday at the popular beachfront attraction were caught by surprise when they were greeted by water lapping around the kelp forest display, the shark and ray tank and the rocky reef exhibit.

The guest of honor in the aquarium's Kids' Corner octopus tank had swum to the top of the enclosure and disassembled the recycling system's valve, flooding the place with some 200 gallons of seawater.

"It had grabbed the tube that pulls out the water and caused it to spray outside the tank," said aquarium education specialist Nick Fash. Judging by the size of the flood, Fash estimated that the water flowed for about 10 hours before the first staff member, Aaron Kind, showed up for work.

Kind issued an all-hands-on-deck call to summon co-workers to the pier with mops, water vacuums and fans. Even though the aquarium is built over the beach, it has no floor drain.

The tiny octopus, which is about the size of a human forearm when its appendages are extended, floated lazily in the water that remained in its tank.

It watched intently through glass walls and portholes as workers struggled to dry the place out in time for the day's first busload of schoolchildren to arrive on a 9:30 a.m. field trip.

Randi Parent, the aquarium's community outreach coordinator, said the only significant damage was to newly installed ecologically sensitive flooring in several offices. It consists of linseed-and-cork tiles that soaked up the seawater and squished beneath workers' feet the rest of the day.

The incident was reminiscent of a 1994 incident at San Pedro's Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in which an octopus named Octavia pulled a plastic pipe loose.

That giant Pacific octopus died when all of the water in her tank drained out.

Since octopuses are considered by many to be the most intelligent invertebrate -- and to have good memories -- Fash said he jury-rigged his octopus tank piping with clamps and tape in hopes of thwarting any further mischief by its occupant. "She would need tools," he said of his octopus, which until now had no name.

"Some people are suggesting we call her 'Flo,' " he said.

Real Life Cthulhu-Science

Oh my! You don't have to go to Europa or Beta Reticuli to see aliens.

The undulating, winglike flaps that gave Magnapinna ("big fin") its name--as well as the distinctive tentacles, extended at right angles and trailing like fishing lines. Whereas giant squid and other cephalopods have eight short arms and two long tentacles, Magnapinna have ten appendages that all appear to be the same length.



Just imagine if you were on Earth when Cthulhu first appeared, looked about, and decided that the Architeuthis was the model for it's new form. Tthen, just before the Octopus of Dark Energy slept for an aeon, it came ... for ... YOU!


Aieeee!


The news story: A Shell Oil Compnay camera picked up this image - A mile and a half (two and a half kilometers) underwater - surprise: an alien-like, long-armed, and—strangest of all—"elbowed" Magnapinna squid. Now, does anyone else ``shudder`` what the Oil Companies really want a Cthulhuesque creature for?


More at National Geographic: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/11/081124-giant-squid-magnapinna.html




If the "video" doesn't appear on your screen, you can catch it at NG at the link above.

Chulhu Sex Report

OK, from a fictional point of view, we know that Lovecraft selected oceanic vermin becuase these things totally disgusted him. They were the most nightmarish and unpalatable things he could imagnie, so he cast his extraterrestrial gods into those forms. Kafka had his roach, Lovecraft had his rats, frogs, and octopus.

However all that being said, we can make a leap of fictional faith and begin to discuss why one of those elldritch god-like minions took the form of an octopus, and if so, what biological characteristics would that being have also adopted. To be "in the world" one must necessarily be "of the world. As an analogy, the Christian faith proclaims that God entered the word in human flesh and was subject to death, pain, and temptation. So, too, might a creature made of dark energy take the form of some earthly critter in order to "sleep and dream".

In Science News of 19 July 2008 we read this pericope*: "Male squid inject females with sperm packages that burst out of her skin to fertilize the egg."

OK, fixate on that mental image for a brief moment. That is natural for squid. No problem. However, when an abberant sea-thing tries to impose its biology upon frail humans, one can only imagine the pain and insanity that would ensue. That, I believe, is the essence of what is Lovecraftian. The imposition of the alien upon the human in order to achieve madness and atrocity.

Buy why?

It points out or frailty. It shows how weak a species we truly are, that it is we who are the vermin upon the Earth. However, knowing Mr. Lovecraft as I now do, I also understand that within the madness and terror, there is a gleam of hope. Lovecraft was not a man of despair and darkness. He enjoyed life, he enjoyed friends, and the reparte of keen minds in word-combat. He left an escape clause. To he who was erudite and learned and understood the full mysteries. To he who was initiated and fully grasped the nature of "the Other", then that individual made the transition. He was now a peer of the eldrtich gods, and walked among them invulnerable of the madness that crushed the weaker of the species.

Still, erupting sperm from flesh is a bit icky.



Science News: Magazine for the Society of Science & the Public, 19 July 2008, Vol. 174, No.2, page 31, book review of The Score: How The Quest For Sex Has Shaped The Modern Man., Faye Flam (of the Philadelphia Inquirer), Avery, 2008, 224 pp., $24.95

3M Corporate Conspiracy? Cthulhulian Atrocity??

Chemical and Engineering News (11 August 2008) reports that curators at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History have selected 3M's Novec 7100 engineering fluid to preserve two giant squids now held at Saint Ocean Hall. They're set to be displayed in September 2008.

The fluid may be exotic enough to be familiar to an interstellar alien. It's hydrofluoroether which will envelop the squids without permeating their tissues. (It's non-fammable, has low toxicity, and virtually no global warming potential.

Perhaps the great beasts are spawn of Cthulhu and are merely sleeping ... awaiting ... the great and glorious day of ... Aieeee!

Cthulhu Jewelry?

Dave Goudsward found these octopus jewlery pieces made of real octopus. (I'd guess made by the lost wax process). And don't forget to checkout and buy Dave's books. (click here). - - And join the Google Group for more information that doesn't always make it to the blog.

These and other items can be found by clicking here.

The jeweler states (information unconfirmed):

The Octopus is a symbol of Transformation and Regeneration. Because of its reputation of changing colors to match its backgrounds, the octopus is also known as the Master of Disguise. Octopuses also have the power to regenerate. If an octopus loses an arm in battle it can grow a new one. Some can even detach and arm to distract predators and then grow another! Don't mess with the octopus because they can stun or kill you with one poisonous bite. The poison is called tetrodotoxin which is the same as Fugu, the puffer fish served in Japan. So treat your Octopus with Love! (o)(o)(o) (suction sound) - OctopusME!