PZ Myers, my original science blogging hero, was disturbed by the video I posted (gloatingly) of some Stomatopod on Cephalopod ass-whooping.
You know, the rotten little crunchy, jointed thing wouldn’t have stood a chance if he’d been fighting within his own weight-class. I found this video on a blog called Arthropoda — a clearly biased advocacy site for violence on molluscs by the world’s dominant, bullying metazoans. -PZ
OK, let’s give the squishy a size advantage over my favorite mantis shrimp, Hemisquilla californiensis.
Ha-Ha! Run for your life, softy!
Seriously though, I am very suspicious of that video. The octopus seems lethargic and completely uninterested in the mantis shrimp. I get the feeling that the filmmakers are constantly pushing the octopus back towards the burrow as it is trying to get away.
Regardless, the score is still:
Maybe this will make the Tentacled-One feel better though…
NOOOOOOOOOooooooooo......... Photo: Roy Caldwell
We don’t get to see for certain that the mantis shrimp in that photo gets eaten. Personally, I imagine a Rocky IV-style, final round recovery from the crustacean.
