Argonauts: the Astronauts of the Sea

How argonaut cephalopods evolved their own architecture to return to the open oceanCephalopod molluscs, the group of animals that includes octopuses, nautiluses, bobtail squid and cuttlefish amongst its living members, is a small but highly diverse group of animals. The group boastsocean giants, colour and shape changing octopuses,luminous ink squirters, transparent deep sea squid,aquarium escape artists, animals that mimic other animals, giant eyed vampire squid and they ’ve even conquered the air in species that fly,yes fly (Muramatsu et al. 2013).In short, it ’s really hard to stand out at a cephalopod party without doing something really spectacular and yet there’s one group of octopods, the argonauts, which have a remarkable evolution on a par with the evolution of flight in vertebrates or the many groups like whales and dolphins which evolved from terrestrial ancestors to return to the ocean.Continue reading...

Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - March 27, 2018 Category: Science Authors: Mark Carnall Tags: Palaeontology Fossils Biology Science Evolution Zoology Source Type: news