Tuesday, July 22, 2008

96-tentacled Common Octopus Discovered

96-armed octopus --

In nature, it is quite rare to encounter octopi with extra tentacles (or “arms,” for the purists), but a pair of aquariums in Japan’s Mie prefecture have some extraordinary specimens on hand.

96-armed octopus --
96-tentacled octopus laying eggs

The preserved octopus actually has the normal number of 8 appendages attached to its body, but each one branches out to form the multitude of extra tentacles. Apparently there is no theory that fully explains the surplus tentacles, but they are believed to be the result of abnormal regeneration that occurred after the octopus suffered some sort of injury.

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1 COMMENT???????:

Anonymous said...

that would make a really cool horror movie....

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