C is for Cephalopod!

Today I have another guest post for you! It is from Maureen O. Betita, the author of the Kraken's Caribbean Series.  This post is all about those  crazy creatures Cephalopods! (also known as octopus, squid, etc. Even the Kraken that rules her Caribbean falls into this catagory!)   She was kind enough to share some of her cephalopodic knowledge, so without further ado here is her post:

C is for Cephalopod

I have to agree with Maureen,
I think this one's pretty cute!

My friend, the octopus and his large family, consisting of squid and cuttlefish, inhabit every oceanic zone.
And they’re cute!
Well, I think they are cute.









Cuttlefish are amazing. I saw a special some months ago on television, one of those nature shows, and it highlighted out the biggest male cuttlefish corralled the ladies and kept everyone away, making sure he was the father of her hoard. But! One sneaky younger little male…well, he’d tuck his ‘maleness’ away and sneak into the harem. And the females were so impressed with daring…he was allowed to wile away some time in the boudoir. And the big guy never suspected!
All hale the sneaky male! Who managed to prove that brain can outweigh brawn!

Now, the squid…the fighter of the bunch. I think of the squid as the marine/soldier of the family. While the cuttlefish is nice and sneaky, the squid is vicious, fast and a predatory hunter. The critter that attacked Captain Nemo was a giant squid. The marks that whale sometimes show up with? Scars from battling the giant squid.

I’d want the squid on my team in a war.

The octopus! Ah, my fav. The eight tentacled stealth specialist. And smart! Damned smart! Escape artists, able to finagle their way into places nothing of size should be able to. It helps that they have no bones. The octopus is really the darling of the steampunk crowd right now.

When I created the Great Albino Kraken for my book, The Kraken’s Mirror, The Chameleon Goggles and
The Pirate Circus, I created a mix of creatures. I think of my Kraken as a mix of the cephalopod family.
Only…very, very, very big…like able to pull down ships big. (Mine seldom does that, unless they attempt
mayhem to the Caribbean. He’s a sweetheart!)

Amazon

I read a book not long ago about this species, called The Kraken: The Curious, Exciting and Slightly Disturbing Science of Squid, by Wendy Williams. An excellent read! Fascinating and easy to read! If you want to know about actual cephalopods, check out her book.

If you want matchmaking mythical monsters? Read mine!

                                    











The Kraken's Mirror, the first book in the Kraken's Caribbean series is currently free in e-book form on Amazon!  So what are you waiting for? Go dive into this awesome new series, who knows how long this freebie will last!

This post is a part of The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge 2012.