Dumbo octopus: “pppbbbbbttthhh!”

by Meg on June 13, 2007

This octopus is all: "I leeve in dee depths of dee oh-ceayns." [covers eyes with ear flaps] "No flash photographies!"

"Pppbbbbbtttthhh!!!"

Dumbooctopus

I must say, this pic has been sent in by beellions of people, so thank you… most recently, "M.R.", courtesy of the NY Times.

See MORE interestin’ pics in this here book: The Deep. Good idea, Steph H.!

{ 87 comments }

1 anner 06.13.07 at 6:11 pm

bleeny bleeny bleen bleen?

2 ali 06.13.07 at 6:14 pm

it almost looks like those animals made out of fruit…

anyone know what i’m talking about??

3 Pixy Misa 06.13.07 at 6:18 pm
4 liz 06.13.07 at 6:19 pm

i’m not so sure about “cute”.
i’m sure its mother thinks it the cutest thing ever….

Be careful. Theo may eat it.

agree with Ali- looks kinda like a skinned mango or something???

5 ali 06.13.07 at 6:19 pm

Pixy Misa – YES! Thanks! Doesn’t it look like it though?

6 DKN 06.13.07 at 6:20 pm

Cute! Makes me think of…

“Awwww! You guys made me ink!”

7 dayna 06.13.07 at 6:22 pm

ali:
You took the words right outta my mouth! That’s EXACLTY what I thought!

8 annie 06.13.07 at 6:24 pm

What the Heck ????? Looks at object cross eyed. Are you sure it’s alive?? really!! are you sure??

An Octapus you say! Hmmmmm.

9 metsakins 06.13.07 at 6:25 pm

all right

all right

I don’t think all animals say
“Pppbbbbbtttthhh!!!”

at least some of them don’t

10 anner 06.13.07 at 6:28 pm

metsakins – yes, this one looks more like it’s saying “blaaaaaaaahhhgh”!

11 annie 06.13.07 at 6:30 pm

http://www.mbari.org/data/info/grimpo.htm

ooooo! they hover above the sea floor. Okay maybe eet is cute. here is more info for all you budding marine biologists.

And a grownup picture?

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/blueplanet/photo/photo_zoom7.html

12 Bev 06.13.07 at 6:34 pm

I..what…it’s…are you sure that’s an octopus? It looks like those leetle toys in a water dome, you push a button and they dance.

13 chacha 06.13.07 at 6:45 pm

oh … okay … now, that’s just really … weird.

14 Laura 06.13.07 at 6:46 pm

Pikachu! Thundershock!

15 Kritter 06.13.07 at 6:46 pm

Adult version is not cute.

16 Robbie 06.13.07 at 6:48 pm

I’m glad you posted what it is. I couldn’t have guessed in a thousand years.

17 Poppy 06.13.07 at 6:49 pm

Front? Back? Eyes? Just one? Where’s the 8 legs? I dunno, looks like a Pokemon to me.

18 kate 06.13.07 at 6:53 pm

looks like the lil octopus off of finding nemo

19 Redzilla 06.13.07 at 6:55 pm

Yup, the bebeh, he looks like fruit art. The adult is kinda cute, what the flappiness and the blue eyes.

20 fish eye no miko 06.13.07 at 6:57 pm

I shall call him “Squishy” and he shall be mine, and he shall by my Squishy. ^_^

/I need to watch that movie again…

21 trin 06.13.07 at 7:01 pm

I am SO going to make an amigurumi of this guy!

22 elliottsmommy 06.13.07 at 7:01 pm

ahn. it looks like a shaved pear. i believe those pointy things (only 4 of 8 showing) will be the tentacles. actually, i was being polite. it looks *somewhat* similar to a portion of a man’s anatomy. or maybe, as usual, i just need to get some. :^[

23 Raquelagnome 06.13.07 at 7:02 pm

I agree with DKN… “Aw, you guys made me ink!” is right!! One tentacle is shorter than the rest, but you can’t “really” tell! Aw :)

24 R. Moore 06.13.07 at 7:03 pm

That is the strangest thing I’ve seen in a long time.

25 Theo 06.13.07 at 7:05 pm

Liz — I’m more of a calamari fan. (LIGHTLY fried.)
(With marinara and lemon.)
(mmm.)

26 jen 06.13.07 at 7:11 pm

“awwww, you guys made me ink!”

27 liz 06.13.07 at 7:13 pm

mmmm. calimari (whispered quietly)
so, we will have to wait for this thing to grow up to eat it then???

28 annie 06.13.07 at 7:19 pm

TO me it is making that buzzing whirr sound like humming birds make when they fly past you.
you know the one whirzzzzzzzz..

29 Redzilla 06.13.07 at 7:25 pm

Yes, you have to wait. This little guy would only produce calimari NUBBINS.

30 musicchick2 06.13.07 at 7:29 pm

I usually think most anything is cute, but I just can’t “cute-ify” an octopus. Even a behbeh one. Are we SURE this is an octopus and not some other type of sea creature?

Annie…thanks for the link, but I agree wif Kritter – adult version is not cute. Did you look at the rest of the pics? Did you see that clear wormy thing?!? OMG! *home alone face* I won’t say what THAT thing looks like! *ewww….slinks off to wash my eyeballs*

31 annie 06.13.07 at 7:34 pm

Now Now MusicChick all creatures are beautiful in God’s Eyes.

hehehe

32 mm 06.13.07 at 7:39 pm

Octopuses (octopi) are TOO cute! Babies and adults. And they’re smart, besides.

33 Rachel 06.13.07 at 7:44 pm

That is in fact the back of the octopus, as you can clearly see the tube it uses to funnel water and propel itself. Those little points are the tips of its tentacles; it has skin between its tentacles, so they’re actually much longer than they appear.

34 Liz 06.13.07 at 7:44 pm

I agree with DKN and kate. Totally looks like the pink squid/octo from Finding Nemo. It also looks a little like a PacMan ghost.

35 Des 06.13.07 at 7:45 pm

I Like Him!!!

36 Anne 06.13.07 at 7:47 pm

Sorta cute in a squishy way, but where’s the Ewwwwwww commenter NOW! This actually has a teenie bit of Ewwwww potential, in a nice way.

37 snusnu 06.13.07 at 7:48 pm

It’s Pearl from Finding Nemo!

38 kevin h. 06.13.07 at 8:04 pm

Octipi ARE the cute…anyone who says otherwise can bite my syphon.

39 PixieDust 06.13.07 at 8:06 pm

Awwww, squishy!! Soo cute!!

40 Nagl 06.13.07 at 8:08 pm

The grown-ups are pretty nifty too:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/planetearth/wallpaper/images/wallpaper9_800.jpg

Wellington boots for tentacles!

41 Theresa 06.13.07 at 8:23 pm

It’s a — Pokemon!!

42 JLWS 06.13.07 at 8:34 pm

I have one of these on my nightstand!!

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90064441

43 Not That Mike The Other Mike 06.13.07 at 9:21 pm

If this image doesn’t turn up in a Fark Photoshop contest very soon, I will lose all faith in teh Intartubez.

44 Theo 06.13.07 at 9:33 pm

Carpe Molluscem, Biggus Mikeus!

45 Not That Mike The Other Mike 06.13.07 at 9:43 pm

I’m not a Farker (but I play one on TV).

/ Welease Woger!
// Welease Bwian!
/// Welease Swashies!

46 Mary (the first) 06.13.07 at 10:05 pm

I thought I was somewhat conversant with a good number of non-human things but I sure have never heard of this thing. I think we need a new rule of cuteness: SO UGLY IT’S CUTE!! similar to CUTE OR SAD? but without the sad.
What do you other peeps think? New rule?

47 gennessee 06.13.07 at 10:55 pm

Well, there’s not a lot more “cute” here, but if you find this deep sea life as fascinating as I do, check out the website for the book:

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/nouvian/nouvian_gallery.html

48 ka9q's wife 06.13.07 at 11:02 pm

Have you ever seen Piglet Squid? I posted them before and people thought I was making it up. They are a real species.
http://serpent.eprints.org/view/species/Helicocranchia_sp.html
Check them out.

49 mm 06.13.07 at 11:09 pm

Piglet squid is awesome! :)

50 alison 06.13.07 at 11:27 pm

That piglet squid is anerable!! It looks surprised: “Look at how cute I am!!”

51 Megan 06.13.07 at 11:36 pm

All bebehs are cute by definition! I quote the OED (unabridged — it has no reason to be succinct unless succinct says it all): “Cute = bebeh.”

This guy reminds me of those little rubber guys you used to find in dime stores (when you used to find dime stores) — you’d squeeze him and his ears, eyes, and tongue would pop out…. Remember?

52 Ponygirl 06.13.07 at 11:45 pm

I don’t understand this cute little octopus.

53 onionpencil musashi 06.14.07 at 12:35 am

i loves heem (her?)

54 drij 06.14.07 at 1:22 am

Cthulhu Pppbbbbbtttthhhagn???

55 limbonics 06.14.07 at 1:22 am

aww its a cthulhu spawn!

56 donutbill 06.14.07 at 1:46 am

Hey, this little guy is cuter than those brainless human tetris blocks.

57 Shannon Johnson 06.14.07 at 2:22 am

Where’d this little guy come from? He is so cute.

58 Spock 06.14.07 at 2:26 am

Fascinating…

59 Melissa 06.14.07 at 2:27 am

Are you sure it’s not a Pokemon?

60 AlbertaGirl 06.14.07 at 3:26 am

Yay! Dumbo octopi are some of my favourite animals EVAR!!!

On a related note, did anyone watch the program on Discovery tonight about Humboldt squid? They’re more dangerous than sharks, apparently. Fascinating indeed.

61 Suda Nim 06.14.07 at 3:28 am

One of them Discovery Channel page critters look like a Triffid.

62 Karen 06.14.07 at 7:13 am

Weird, but kind of cute.

63 Monica 06.14.07 at 7:24 am

Here’s one in motion!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar4wljKzTGo

The way they swim is completely redunculous!!!!!

How can you say it’s not cute??

64 Nayir 06.14.07 at 9:09 am
65 pkeli 06.14.07 at 12:41 pm

Now I have calamari on the brain… But guys, I’m pretty sure calamari is made from squid, not octopus so the little dumbo fella is out. However, I wonder if piglet squid calamari tastes like bacon…

66 Lisa 06.14.07 at 1:20 pm

Piglet squids are wonderful! I wonder what kind of sound they would make – maybe a squeaky oink?

67 Lisa 06.14.07 at 1:21 pm

Also, they should be called “squiglets” fo sho.

68 Kat 06.14.07 at 1:26 pm

pkeli, you just nearly made me snort my coffee…tastes like bacon…HAHAHAHAH!

69 cutebabyfix.com 06.14.07 at 1:26 pm

I theenk he sort of looks like a very nice hat wheech I would wear with all of thees seasons summer fashyons. He could be a hat, or a brooch, or a pterydactyl…

70 pkeli 06.14.07 at 1:31 pm

Kat — Something’s funny? I’m eating squiglet with eggs and toast as we speak. Totally bacon, and it DID make an oinky-squeak…

71 Megan 06.14.07 at 1:59 pm

The adult is a bit creepy looking. But the baby is pretty cute, for an octopus.

I saw that special on Humbolt (sp?0 squid. They are really nifty the way they change colors.

72 AlbertaGirl 06.14.07 at 2:46 pm

Here’s another pic of the piglet squid. It looks like it’s smiling!

http://www.cabrilloaq.org/piglet.html

73 a different Laura 06.14.07 at 3:04 pm

Another squid that is really cute is called a Pyjama Squid; it’s black and white striped! I don’t have pic, but google it and you’ll see what I mean…

74 lauowolf 06.14.07 at 4:32 pm

I’m at sea here.
There’s a eye.
And (?) a beak.
Weird.
But cute.

75 elliottsmommy 06.14.07 at 4:36 pm

AlbertaGirl, i believe that piglet squid is of the rarer subspecies Rastafarian BobMarleyexus varietay.

76 Annie 06.15.07 at 3:51 am

Okay I am an uneducated sort I guess. I thought squids and octopi were the same genis. Obviously I need to go to marine biology school.

77 eikoleigh 06.15.07 at 6:36 am

Weird, but SO cute….like a little baby alien thingamabob….

78 Jen 06.15.07 at 10:19 pm

Can’t be an octopus. Octopi don’t have visible ears, and their mouths are located on the underside, in the center of the tentacles. It’s cute, but is in no way an octopus.

79 moonpies 06.16.07 at 12:13 am

OMFG i can’t tell wether or not that’s creepy!

80 Subhangi 06.16.07 at 6:36 am

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! He looks like a little alien blob!

81 Theo 06.16.07 at 4:00 pm

Annie — they’re all mollusks, and more specifically, cephalopods. That’s their taxonomic Phylum and Class, respectively; the classifications for octopi and various squids split away from each other after that.

The categories of taxonomy go like this (descending order, largest group to smallest):
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species

(mnemonic: “Kings Play Chess On Fuzzy Green Squares”)

So, they’re not *too* closely related, but you *can* get both at a decent sushi counter.
;)

82 Annie 06.16.07 at 4:42 pm

Yummm. I love Calamari.
Thanks Theo.

I love the mnemonic.

It is all so much more complicated than you think when you look on the surface.

When I went looking briefly last night there was a whole argument about how many suckers are on the arms/tenticles and the placement of the suckers.

That article didn’t go into the family genus or kingdom. Aparently it was too much for the reporter.

The only trouble with looking stuff up on line is most of the stuff you find is not very complete and sometimes incorrect.

Pffft. Any way thanks for the science lesson.

83 Theo 06.18.07 at 5:55 pm

“It is all so much more complicated than you think when you look on the surface.”

yep, the ocean’s funny that way
;)

84 anomalous4 06.20.07 at 7:04 pm

Pac-Man, you are so-o-o-o-o-o-o-o TOAST!

85 Theo 06.20.07 at 7:19 pm

LOL Anom4… watch out for the wasabi and pickled-ginger power pellets, though…

86 Amorina 06.23.07 at 8:00 am
87 Lily 07.26.07 at 8:47 am

PIKACHU ^..^

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