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Comic squid vore

Posted by N1 on November 21, 2013, 3:24 pm

So I was shaking my fist at my friends on Tumblr for basically giving my brain and its laughably short attention span a way to go off on tangents for hours. I was directed to this funny little collection of Imgur 'fact' comics. The second one about the giant squid gave me a laugh and is topical here, so maybe you guys might get a laugh out of it.

Also, for you endo people, there is one involving hearts rather than stomachs, but it's not quite as funny.

~Annie, of the Wans

Link: Real Ocean Facts

Re: Comic squid vore

Posted by Strega on November 21, 2013, 5:03 pm, in reply to "Comic squid vore"

When I was a kid I thought octopi and squid swallowed their prey whole like sea anemones. Sadly, they don't.

Re: Comic squid vore

Posted by N1 on November 21, 2013, 8:56 pm, in reply to "Re: Comic squid vore"

Yeah, the beak does make cephalopod soft vore kind of unfeasible if we have to accept some realism. Though the tentacles and suckers really help with the 'capture and pull in' part, which is always fun.

I'm a fan of creatures like moray eels as underwater predators, but the scientists keep finding neat, freaky stuff in the trenches, so maybe there's some sort of prey-engulfing octopus hidden somewhere down there. I doubt we'll find any ocean-dragons either, but a girl can dream.

Re: Comic squid vore

Posted by Strega on November 21, 2013, 10:57 pm, in reply to "Re: Comic squid vore"

Moray eels have an interesting "pharyngeal jaw" that is similar to the inner jaw on Aliens (xenomorphs). It reaches up from the throat and pulls the prey in bit by bit so the eel can swallow it whole (though kinda shredded). Sea snakes on the other hand sometimes swallow Morals whole and alive (as you can find out by searching for Sea Snake Eel on YouTube.)

The ocean is full of critters that swallow prey whole. Look up Black Swallower for a good example. 83

Re: Comic squid vore

Posted by N1 on November 22, 2013, 4:30 am, in reply to "Re: Comic squid vore"

Yeah, those weird jaws on moray eels were part of what got my attention with them. A lot more interesting anatomy than the average fish. Kind of funny with the sea snake though, given how long skinny creatures fit so nicely into long skinny creatures.

The black swallower is another neat one. There's a lot of really neat things down there. In fact, I just remembered the gulper eel too, and some some angler fish also get the same way. There's actually a really neat image of a 3d-scanned angler fish with a really full stomach (link below) which just shows what it takes to eat something whole. Imagine what a huge swallower of some kind could do.

Link: X-ray of full angler fish

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