this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2024
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Today I Learned

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There's a flying squid? (www.discoverwildlife.com)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by kamenlady to c/til
 

I knew there's a flying squid that likes to post memes though

If a squid swimming near the surface is spooked by a predator or a boat, it streamlines into a torpedo shape and fires itself out of the water. At the same time, it splays its eight tentacles into a flat, fan-like pattern in front of its face – some breeds even exude mucus to fill in the spaces, creating a unified, kite-like surface. It also flares a pair of fins near its rear end and – voilà – the squid becomes a living, breathing jet.

top 28 comments
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[–] [email protected] 60 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@[email protected] .... your squid signal has been shone into the fediverse skyline

[–] FlyingSquid 15 points 1 month ago

Yes indeed! See my response to Viking_Hippie about getting my username. It is due to this awesome fact.

[–] FlyingSquid 42 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago

I can vouch for this guys experience.

[–] Gingerlegs 32 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Careful, you’ll summon him

[–] kamenlady 8 points 1 month ago

That was my intention

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 month ago (2 children)

How many tickles does it take to make a squid fly?

I figure it's got to be about ten tickles

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago

Wait wait wait...you have no idea how a squid would react if you tickled it. What if it freaked out and bit your nose off? First you need to cautiously do a test tickle

[–] gofsckyourself 13 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Squids have two tentacles. The rest are arms.

A set of eight arms and two distinctive tentacles surround the mouth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squid#Description

[–] FlyingSquid 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Two tentacles and, if you're like me, a great big hectocotylus.

That's right, ladies. You know you want this squid's hectocotylus getting past your mantle.

[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Are you one of the species that rips theirs off and hucks it at the female to prevent being eaten?

Maybe I'm thinking of an octopus..

[–] FlyingSquid 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I don't know what you're thinking of, but it's none of us higher molluscs.

NSFO porn:

spoiler

[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001 2 points 1 month ago

Apparently I've been misled as the octopus I was thinking of, the argonaut, doesn't actually have a detachable hectocotylus.

Zefrank lied to me.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That's interesting, when I was a kid I remember always hearing that an octopus has eight tentacles and a squid has ten. I suppose 'limbs' might have been a more accurate descriptor.

Oddly, I knew that cuttlefish have a distinction between arms and tentacles. I'm not in biology, but I always thought of them as tiny squid, so it wouldn't surprise me if they were related.

If you're correcting me on the joke, it's a pun where "ten tickles" sounds like "tentacles." The number ten is unrelated to the number of limbs - it's actually usually told about an octopus

[–] gofsckyourself 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Octopi have no tentacles, those are all arms!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

So wait, you're telling me that an octopus doesn't have tentacles at all?

My whole entire world (in regards to a small subset of cephalopods) has been turned upside down.

[–] gofsckyourself 2 points 1 month ago

Yeah, I had the same feeling when I learned about that. It seems to be a common misnomer.

[–] Viking_Hippie 17 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I wonder whether @[email protected] knew and based his name on it or it's just a coincidence 🤔

[–] FlyingSquid 39 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I did know! One day many years ago (we're talking 1990s here), I was talking to people on IRC and I said, "you know what would be awesome? If squid could fly."

And then I looked just for the hell of it and it turns out they can. I've been FlyingSquid ever since.

I still think that's one of the coolest things in nature.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I think you're one of the coolest people in the fediverse ..... keep flying you crazy squid

[–] FlyingSquid 9 points 1 month ago

Thanks! I feel the same about you!

[–] happysplinter 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This is an amazing origin story! Loved that you drop IRC. Paints a good picture of how long you've had the handle.

[–] FlyingSquid 2 points 1 month ago

I'm old and I've been on the internet since the pre-web days. First time I used the internet was when a friend showed me how to use a MUD in the local university computer labs, but I was still a high school freshman, so that would have been 1991-1992, somewhere in there. I remember thinking that this new web thing I saw would never be as good as Gopher. Oops.

[–] Hobbes_Dent 10 points 1 month ago

When the day gets late the Squid dons its little propellers and crosses the heavens squirting the night sky until the cuttlefish of day chases it forever westward.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

And here I was thinking it was just a fun username.

[–] satanmat 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] kamenlady 2 points 1 month ago

Way back, i spent 1 day in my life really believing they do exist, until digging deeper exposed me to the sad truth.

[–] whotookkarl 2 points 1 month ago

It's like a squishy transformer