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OCTOPUSES: IN THEIR ELEMENT

July 26, 2018 6:15 pm


Octopus, Bahamas (Melinda Riger / Grand Bahama Scuba)

OCTOPUSES: IN THEIR ELEMENT

We haven’t seen many octopuses in these parts for quite a while. Time to put that right. The seas of the Bahamas teem with many many marine species, but few are as fascinating or indeed versatile as the octopus. Don’t take my word for it, just watch ‘Finding Dory’ to see how amazing Hank the… [what’s that, Skippy? It’s fiction?]. As you were. That these extraordinary creatures even exist let alone thrive in our waters is a truly wonderful thing. Here are a few to admire – or in the case of the one below, to admire you.

‘Here’s lookin’ at you…’Octopus, Bahamas (Melinda Riger / Grand Bahama Scuba)Octopus, Bahamas (Melinda Riger / Grand Bahama Scuba)Octopus, Bahamas (Melinda Riger / Grand Bahama Scuba)

You can find out some more about octopuses – including the correct plural for ‘octopus’ – by clicking the links below. More importantly, you’ll see more of them too.

THE PLURAL OF OCTOPUS & RELATED CEPHALOPOD MYSTERIES

MARINE BAGPIPES FILLED WITH INK

OCTOPUSES: WORTH LEARNING TO SCUBA FOR

Octopus, Bahamas (Adam Rees / Scuba Works)

All octopedal photos: thanks to Melinda Riger / Grand Bahama Scuba (1 – 4) and Adam Rees / Scuba Works (5)

Posted by Rolling Harbour

Categories: Bahamas (Abaco), Bahamas Marine Life, Marine Life Abaco

Tags: , , , , , , ,

2 Responses to “OCTOPUSES: IN THEIR ELEMENT”

  1. It’s octopodae. You’ll just have to trust me. Though absolutely nobody uses it. The marine biologists I know use octopus as a plural.

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    By Thomas Hamel on July 26, 2018 at 10:23 pm

    1. Hi Thomas. Well, I really can’t see any linguistic basis for that. It might apply if the Graeco-Latin base were Octop(od)a, Octopusa or some such 1st declension construct. It’s hardly found online, and the one place I checked was riddled with spelling errors, so empirically unreliable. Mmmmmmmmm. But I like octopus as a scientific plural (as with ‘a thousand squid’, which sounds quite natural). Can we agree on that one please?

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      By Rolling Harbour on July 31, 2018 at 8:49 pm

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