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Why do so many cephalopods die immediately after reproducing?

Okay so the physical reason is that mating triggers a change in their brain chemistry and hormone levels that essentially poisons them and makes them behave strangely and stop eating. If the gland responsible for this change is removed, the cephalopod continues as normal and lives for many months after laying eggs.

But the evolutionary reason is the end-Cretaceous extinction. Cephalopods used to have a pretty huge variation in lifespan, ranging from a few months to over 200 years (https://www.iflscience.com/ancient-paperclipshaped-sea-creature-could-live-for-200-years-57685)

Large, long-lived cephalopods were hit hard by the mass extinction and those who survived did so by being short-lived and reproducing quickly, so they were selected for as cephalopods recovered from the extinction event. The most ancient species, the nautilus, can live for several decades and mate many times, hinting at the high diversity of life strategies that cephalopods used to have.

So yeah, the reason octopuses usually only live a year or two before self-destructing is because of that fucking asteroid.

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chat?

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im back on my simic bullshit

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My simic friend DNA and I have been visiting Avishkar for the Ghirapur Grand Prix! Spending time with family, watching some of the smaller races, eating all the foods I've missed while on Ravnica. We couldn't get good seats for the big races, so we left and have been watching on screen around my family's place.

Hope everyone is able to come and check out the plane! Make sure to try some Gulab jamun if you get the chance by visiting, it's one of my favorite treats!

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If you have ever been tempted by a Paleozoic Pal, like a a stuffed trilobite or a full size eurypterid body pillow, now's the time to buy one, before they and a really lovely little museum are gone for good 😭😭😭

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Welcome to Fandom Friday!

A day for the MtG community to come together and talk about our OCs, fanplanes, and favorite aspects of MtG in general! Ok so you know the drill, I’ll give a prompt and you can respond to it by answering directly, doing a doodle, making a custom card, a little flash fic, or whatever feels right and most fun for you! (Heck, do multiples if you want, this is just for fun!)

Hello everyone! I have a fun prompt today that has various levels of participation to choose from! >:3c

So basically, I love mtg Jumpstart. It’s such a fun idea and I love that it’s a place to print unusual strategies without having to dedicate a whole set to it. My husband and I love buying some from time to time and do blind plays. It’s exciting when neither of us know what we’re doing xD

So my prompt(s) for you my dear friends, is what theme would you just love to see in a Jumpstart pack? Heck even if they’d one it before, maybe you just want more! Or explored in a different color.

Idea two, put together your own Jumpstart pack deck list 👀 From what I’ve seen of deck make-ups it seems that generally, in a 20-card Jumpstart pack you get about 7 basic lands, 1 “thriving” land, 5-7 commons, 4-5 uncommons, and 1-2 rares/mythics.

Idea three, same as above but invent some custom cards for your theme! We’ve seen some cool new cards in Jumpstart and I’m excited to see what we’ll continue to get!

Happy weekend everyone! ^_^

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Oh my god this person found a leopard slug with its eyestalks fused together??? One super long stalk but it still has two eyes on the end. That's the cutest thing in the entire world. And then it had a ton of babies but JUST ONE baby inherited the mutation!!

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hey don't cry. 7,401 species of frog in the world, ok?

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This crab is under construction! Read more on the Aquarium's website. 🦀🦺

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NEW !!! SNAKE DISCOVERED

ITS CALLED THE LIMESTONE EYELASH PIT VIPER. THAT iS SO CUTE. ITS SO PRETTY

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Crocodiles afraid of the shovel

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Remember: toe beans are the sign of a killer.

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i learned that there's a Japanese beetle that when eaten by a frog will haul ass through its digestive system and escape out the back end unscathed (x)

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Us if we were giant isopods

3lllD< 3lllD< 3lllD< 3lllD< 3lllD< 3lllD< 3lllD<

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did you know that the well-known factoid that male anglerfishes degenerate after attachment until they’re basically just a pair of testes is false? i knew of course that they don’t just become “growths” on the female because I’ve handled dozens of attached pairs and every male I’ve ever seen has been very much obviously a whole and complete second fish, but I sort of assumed there was internal degeneration, perhaps muscle atrophy, etc. i can’t believe no one ever corrected me on this but this just doesn’t happen. in obligatorily parasitic species, the male actually continues to grow and increases considerably in size after he attaches to the female, because the two of them can only reach sexual maturity together. me, an octavia butler fan: is this the height of romance??

what is true is that attached males do have hugely enlarged testes proportionate to the rest of their bodies & organs, and that they receive all nutrition from the female’s bloodstream so their stomachs are always empty, though their own gills seem to still be functional, as are their fins and muscles—you can even induce movement and swimming motions on recently dead attached males. I can only assume that at some point someone said that basically the only biological function a male anglerfish needs to perform is sperm production and this got taken out of context and luridly exaggerated over time. he’s not just a pair of testicles! he’s her forever partner! one flesh one end!