If the world can be divided into any two distinct camps, it's people who think squids are cooler than octopi, and people who think octopi are cooler than squids. It's a difficult question for me and it almost hurts to make an answer, but I'd give squids the overall advantage. There's just too many stories of them killing people and growing to the size of football stadiums for any octopus to keep up.

Course, it's easier not to choose, and Mother Nature appears to be giving us a third option: THE OCTOSQUID.

As reported here, a creature that appears to blend the traits of an octopus and a squid has been caught near Hawaii. Well, actually, it wasn't exactly "caught" -- the thing got itself caught up in a deep sea pipeline. It lived on for three days after being collected, and the now-dead specimen continues to puzzle scientists.

Its northern parts looking squid-like and its southern parts looking octopus-like, it's a seeming combo of two of the sea's coolest creatures. While I gave squids the advantage a few paragraphs ago, the animals share several traits that make me love both of them to death.

For one, both squids and octopi have notably high intelligence. They're crazy smart. The story of that one octopus figuring out how to escape its lab tank at night to eat fish out of other tanks is well known, but squids can be just as clever.

For two, both eat in really awesome ways. A squid is one of the scariest creatures in the ocean. Its suction cups don't just stick -- they pierce. By the time the bloodied prey is drawn to its mouth, the victim is chewed up by what's essentially an eagle beak. Octopi, for their part, smother the fuck out of their prey and are known to be some of the messiest eaters in the sea, leaving the shells and carapaces of dinner all over the floor of their lairs. They're party animals.

For three, both squid and octopi are boosted by the many myths, rumors and half-truths of cryptozoology. While "giant squid" are no longer a thing of mystery, most of us are still waiting for something like the Kraken to show up. There are also stories of octopi far larger than any known octopus, destroying ships and taking names. Both animals are charmed by having no real limit to their size. Imagine if something like a bee or a wolf could grow as large as a bus -- that's the kind of legendary-maybes our tentacles friends swim within.

As for the Octosquid, it's a new species for sure, but visual similarities don't necessarily dictate that an octopus got it on with a squid at some point in the not too distant past. But it'd be pretty cool if that turns out to be true.

When news reports give you an excuse to draw an octopus and a squid making out, it's a good day.

Posted by Matt on 07/06/2007. E-mail me!