Aww, I hurt Squid-Man’s delicate feelings

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.

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Unlucky Octopus

Check out this brutal video from Roy Caldwell’s Lab at UC Berkeley. It shows the ‘interaction’ between a mantis shrimp (Odotodactylus scyllarus) and a blue-ringed octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata), when the latter is introduced into the mantis shrimp’s tank. Both of these animals occur amongst coral reef rubble in the Western Pacific, so it’s possible that they often meet in the wild. Take a look at what happens when they do…

Well, that didn’t go so well for the unfortunate octopus. Take that, squishies!

It’s unknown how the stomatopod copes with the venom of the blue-ring as it kills and devours the cephalopod.

You can learn more about keeping your own murderous mantis shrimp at Roy’s List.