Octlantis

September 17, 2017 11:24 AM

In Jervis Bay, off Eastern Australia, researchers recently spotted 15 gloomy octopuses congregating, communicating, dwelling together, and even evicting each other from dens at a site the scientists named “Octlantis.”
posted by sammyo (27 comments total)

This is great, although at first I was put off by what I felt was some pretty harsh editorializing regarding their disposition.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:29 AM on September 17, 2017 [21 favorites]

S̋̏̒̎ͥ͆҉̣̬̠̞O̡͙̬͚̪̫̺ͭ̔ͭO̢͓͈̙͗ͤͨ̿̌̆̒͐́̚Ṇ͕̭̟̔̐́͝
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 11:35 AM on September 17, 2017 [22 favorites]

Ha! Gloomy octopus is a species of octopus. I was confused about how the scientists were able to glean the octopuses emotional outlook.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 11:41 AM on September 17, 2017 [36 favorites]

“Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.”
posted by Fizz at 11:59 AM on September 17, 2017 [6 favorites]

Can we just surrender our stewardship of the world to the octopuses yet? We humans have gone and cocked it up for too long now. Let the next eight-armed Alexander arise from a midden of scallop shells to unite the world.
posted by ejs at 12:05 PM on September 17, 2017 [12 favorites]

Can we just surrender our stewardship of the world to the octopuses yet?


I think the raccoons and the corvids may want to get in on that.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:14 PM on September 17, 2017 [9 favorites]

Raccoons get the land, corvids get the sky, octopodes get the sea. Seems straightforward to me.
posted by tobascodagama at 12:18 PM on September 17, 2017 [42 favorites]

Raccoons get the land, corvids get the sky, octopodes get the sea. Seems straightforward to me.

Isn't this basically Redwall?

This is not a complaint.
posted by Fizz at 12:22 PM on September 17, 2017 [5 favorites]

If octopuses ever get around to classifying us, I think they'll put me down as 'gloomy human.'
posted by MrVisible at 12:34 PM on September 17, 2017 [5 favorites]

Gloomy octopuses—also known as common Sydney octopuses

Label me as "common" and I'd be gloomy too
posted by roger ackroyd at 12:40 PM on September 17, 2017

At least one other gloomy octopus site was found recently, though; it was discovered in 2009, not far away in Jervis Bay, and named Octopolis. At that time it was considered a total anomaly. Researchers believed that the cephalopods gathered there because an unidentifiable human object happened to have formed a central point that the cephalopods surrounded with dens. The unknown artifact was a single object about 30 cm long, heavily encrusted, possibly made of metal.

2009: An Octopus Odyssey
posted by roger ackroyd at 12:48 PM on September 17, 2017 [18 favorites]

THE RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH
posted by Foci for Analysis at 12:51 PM on September 17, 2017 [11 favorites]

Just want to say this is the first post I really wanted to include audio background.
posted by sammyo at 12:52 PM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

And nobody's made this into an elimination reality show yet? (Of course, everybody gets eight votes.)
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:57 PM on September 17, 2017 [3 favorites]

The earlier-known "Octopolis" site is the focus of an excellent recent book, Other Minds, by Peter Godfrey-Smith, who is also credited for the picture of it in the article. Highly recommended.
posted by Rinku at 1:26 PM on September 17, 2017 [4 favorites]

Here's a review of Other Minds that appeared on Pharyngula today.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 2:27 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]

While this is an interesting discovery and very cool, I have a strong suspicion that anything "previously unknown to marine science" that is revealed today will be principally to do with the oceans being fucked and the animals in it trying desperately to survive.
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:49 PM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

Have we identified the tool development, air-breathing engineering and fissile material purification sites in that city yet? Because we should look.
posted by Devonian at 4:28 PM on September 17, 2017 [3 favorites]

Oh dear, and they don't even need opposable thumbs.
I'm so sorry about all the calamari I've eaten now.
posted by Fuchsoid at 5:02 PM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

If The Gloomy Octopus is not the name of an Edward Gorey book, it should be.
posted by pangolin party at 5:15 PM on September 17, 2017 [9 favorites]

Reason for gloominess - The gloomy octopus has a short life expectancy living to only three years of age, as reproduction is a cause of death. Males live for only a few months after mating, while females die shortly after the eggs have hatched.
posted by unliteral at 5:21 PM on September 17, 2017

I'm so sorry about all the calamari I've eaten now.

It's OK. That's squid.

Squids are bastards. They just are.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:33 PM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]

I can comfortably say I've never met a squid that I liked.
posted by davelog at 7:27 PM on September 17, 2017

Jervis Bay is a Commonwealth Territory. This is clearly Octopus Parliament. They'd rather not be there, but they have to be there, and that's why they're gloomy.

Gloomy octopus males seem to spend a great deal of time chasing each other out of dens.

They're either party whips rounding up drunk octopuses who sleep through important votes*, or they're hassling other octopuses to prove they're not actually from the Mediterranean.

*vote #1 the quidnunc calamari
posted by obiwanwasabi at 7:30 PM on September 17, 2017 [12 favorites]

Squids are bastards. They just are.

I don't want any trouble, cephalopods!

T-REX, WE'RE GOING TO SNEAK INTO BED WITH YOU TONIGHT!
WE'LL BE LIKE
"HELLO, T-REX"

posted by zamboni at 8:42 PM on September 17, 2017 [8 favorites]

Have we identified the tool development, air-breathing engineering and fissile material purification sites in that city yet? Because we should look.

The good news is that we're currently safe from octopi mastering the use of tools.

You don't want to know about the bad news.
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:52 PM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

Should they really be calling this Octlantis? I didn't see anything about a poet, a physician, a farmer, a scientist, a magician, or other so-called gods of our legends.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 2:12 AM on September 18, 2017 [1 favorite]