Difference between revisions of "Octopus"

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Come on Conservapedia! You're looking more ridiculous than usual by not reporting this! You've reported on pretty much everything else about Iran, so why not the fact that BUSH LIED TO US!?!?!?!?!!?
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{{Taxonomy|kingdom = Animalia|phylum = Mollusca|class = Cephalopoda|subclass = Coleoidea|superorder = Octopodiformes|order = Octopoda|)}}
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WASHINGTON - First Iraq, now Iran. The United States has operated under a cloud of faulty intelligence in both countries.
 
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ADVERTISEMENT
 
  
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In a bombshell intelligence assessment, the United States has backed away from its once-ironclad assertion that Tehran is intent on building nuclear bombs.
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An '''octopus''' is a [[cephalopod]] [[mollusc]] in the order Octopoda in its broadest sense, but also will refer more narrowly to groups of [[organism]]s within the family Octopodidae, or even more specifically the genus ''Octopus''.<ref name="brusca">Brusca, RC & Brusca GJ (2002). '''Invertebrates, 2 ed'''. Sinauer Associates Incorporated, Sunderland, MA.</ref>
  
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Where there once was certainty, there now is doubt. "We do not know whether it currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," the new estimate said Monday.
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==Description==
  
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Compare that with what then-National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress in January. "Our assessment is that Tehran is determined to develop nuclear weapons."
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Generally less actively swimming than fellow cephalopods [[squid]] and [[cuttlefish]], an octopus has eight flexible suckered [[arm]]s, used for grasping [[rock]]s and prey as well as propelling the octopus. These are often inaccurately referred to as "tentacles", but in fact that term refers specifically to two longer extremities which cuttlefish and squid have at the front of their bodies but octopuses do not.  To move, it may pull itself over the [[sea]] bed with its arms, but when in a hurry, it shoots a [[jet]] of water out of its body, thrusting it through the water.  
  
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Just last month, President Bush, at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said, "We talked about Iran and the desire to work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear weapons ambitions, for the sake of peace."
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Octopuses use [[chromatophore]]s to perfectly camouflage themselves against their background. When threatened, they can eject a cloud of ink to mask their escape. They can compress their bodies to fit through minute apertures.
  
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More ominously, Bush told a news conference Oct. 17, "I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
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==Diet==
  
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Asked then if he definitely believed that Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, Bush said, "Yeah, I believe they want to have the capacity, the knowledge, in order to make a nuclear weapon."
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Octopuses, after engulfing prey in their arms, inject it with [[venom]]. Some, such as the blue-ringed octopus of [[Australia]], are highly venomous and are capable of [[kill]]ing a man with their bite.
  
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Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the president made comments like those "because he was describing the threat as the intelligence community itself had been describing the threat both publicly and in their briefings to him."
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==Octopuses as food==
  
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Intelligence officials advised Bush several months ago that they were reevaluating their assessments about Iran. They came to the White House last Wednesday and briefed him on their new findings.
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Octopus is a popular seafood, especially in [[Mediterranean]] and [[Oriental]] cuisines, though it must be cooked carefully to avoid the flesh becoming rubbery.
  
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The intelligence flip-flop recalled the embarrassing reversal that Bush was forced to make on whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The conviction that Saddam Hussein had such weapons was one of the factors behind Bush's decision to invade Iraq. It since has been determined that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.
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==Octopuses in popular culture==
  
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Democrats on Monday did not hesitate to suggest an Iran-Iraq comparison.
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''The Octopus'' is also the name of novel by [[Frank Norris]].
  
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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats had requested the new Iran assessment "so that the administration could not rush this Congress and the country to another war based on flawed intelligence."
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==Plural==
  
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"I hope this administration reads this report carefully and appropriately adjusts its rhetoric and policy vis-a-vis Iran," Reid said. "The administration should begin this process by finally undertaking a diplomatic surge necessary to effectively address the challenges posed by Iran."
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While "octopi" is the popularly used plural form of "octopus" and is sometimes listed as such in [[Dictionary|dictionaries]],<ref name="m-w">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/octopus</ref> it is incorrect <ref>
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*Fowler, HW (1997) '''A Dictionary of Modern English Usage''' Wordsworth Editions. ISBN 1853263184
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*http://www.colby.edu/biology/BI237/Lab/Tipstowritingscience.doc</ref> because the word does not derive from [[Latin]]; the strictly accepted plurals are "octopuses" and "octopodes". Scholars working with cephalopods have settled on the usage of "octopuses" as plural for "octopus" in the narrow sense referring to species within the family Octopodidae<ref>
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*Mather, JA & Anderson, RC (1993) Personalities of octopuses (''Octopus rubescens''). ''Journal of Comparative Psychology'' '''107''':336-340
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*Villanueva, R; Nozias, C & Boletzky, SV (1995) The planktonic life of octopuses. ''Nature'' '''377''':107
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*Sumbre, G; Fiorito, G; Flash, T & Hochner,B (2006) Octopuses use a human-like strategy to control precise point-to-point arm movements.  ''Current Biology'' '''16''':767-772</ref> and "octopods" the plural to refer more broadly to all species within the order Octopoda.<ref>
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*Voight, JR (1997) Cladistic analysis of the octopods based on anatomical characteristics.  ''Journal of Molluscan Studies'' '''63''':311-325
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*Lewy, Z (1996) Octopods; nude ammonoids that survived the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundry mass extinction. ''Geology'' '''24''':627-630
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*Kubodera, T & Okutani, T (2004) Eledonine octopods from the Southern Ocean: systematics and distribution. ''Antarctic Science'' '''6''':205-214</ref>
  
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In the case of Iran, though, the White House has not dropped its suspicions that Tehran could pursue a nuclear bomb.
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==References==
  
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Iran continues to develop, test and deploy ballistic missiles, and its civilian uranium enrichment program is continuing. "It can readily use the same technology to produce weapons-grade uranium," Hadley said.
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{{reflist}}
  
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In rewriting the conclusions about Iran, the new estimate said Tehran was pursuing a nuclear weapons program but halted that effort in the fall of 2003 under the weight of international pressure. Importantly, the estimate said Iran has not restarted the nuclear bomb program.
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[[Category:Molluscs]]
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[[Category:Seafood]]
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"Tehran's decision to halt its nuclear weapons program suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005," the new estimate said.
 
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While key facts have changed, the administration's strategy has not.
 
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The White House says it will continue to try to build pressure on Iran to prevent it from ever acquiring nuclear bombs.
 
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"The bottom line is that for that strategy to succeed, the international community has to turn up the pressure on Iran with diplomatic isolation, United Nations sanctions and with other financial pressure," Hadley said. "And Iran has to decide that it wants to negotiate a solution."
 
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Some analysts believe the new conclusions will be a roadblock for Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration to be more confrontational toward Iran.
 
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"It's a good thing that we caught this before we marched headlong into another military conflict," said Jon Wolfsthal, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "This isn't the timebomb the administration made it out to be for the last several years."
 
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Wolfsthal said the conclusion that international pressure prompted Iran to halt its program "is the piece of information that we missed in Iraq" where Bush believed that Iraq's pursuit of WMD was continuing despite sanctions. He said the administration did not appear inclined to change its strategy toward Iran. He said that "suggests they can't take yes for an answer."
 
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EDITOR'S NOTE — Terence Hunt has covered the White House for The Associated Press since the Reagan administration.
 

Latest revision as of 18:53, September 26, 2018

Octopus
Scientific classification
Kingdom Information
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Information
Phylum Mollusca
Class Information
Class Cephalopoda
Sub-class Coleoidea
Order Information
Superorder Octopodiformes
Order Octopoda
Population statistics

An octopus is a cephalopod mollusc in the order Octopoda in its broadest sense, but also will refer more narrowly to groups of organisms within the family Octopodidae, or even more specifically the genus Octopus.[1]

Description

Generally less actively swimming than fellow cephalopods squid and cuttlefish, an octopus has eight flexible suckered arms, used for grasping rocks and prey as well as propelling the octopus. These are often inaccurately referred to as "tentacles", but in fact that term refers specifically to two longer extremities which cuttlefish and squid have at the front of their bodies but octopuses do not. To move, it may pull itself over the sea bed with its arms, but when in a hurry, it shoots a jet of water out of its body, thrusting it through the water.

Octopuses use chromatophores to perfectly camouflage themselves against their background. When threatened, they can eject a cloud of ink to mask their escape. They can compress their bodies to fit through minute apertures.

Diet

Octopuses, after engulfing prey in their arms, inject it with venom. Some, such as the blue-ringed octopus of Australia, are highly venomous and are capable of killing a man with their bite.

Octopuses as food

Octopus is a popular seafood, especially in Mediterranean and Oriental cuisines, though it must be cooked carefully to avoid the flesh becoming rubbery.

Octopuses in popular culture

The Octopus is also the name of novel by Frank Norris.

Plural

While "octopi" is the popularly used plural form of "octopus" and is sometimes listed as such in dictionaries,[2] it is incorrect [3] because the word does not derive from Latin; the strictly accepted plurals are "octopuses" and "octopodes". Scholars working with cephalopods have settled on the usage of "octopuses" as plural for "octopus" in the narrow sense referring to species within the family Octopodidae[4] and "octopods" the plural to refer more broadly to all species within the order Octopoda.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Brusca, RC & Brusca GJ (2002). Invertebrates, 2 ed. Sinauer Associates Incorporated, Sunderland, MA.
  2. ↑ https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/octopus
  3. ↑
  4. ↑
    • Mather, JA & Anderson, RC (1993) Personalities of octopuses (Octopus rubescens). Journal of Comparative Psychology 107:336-340
    • Villanueva, R; Nozias, C & Boletzky, SV (1995) The planktonic life of octopuses. Nature 377:107
    • Sumbre, G; Fiorito, G; Flash, T & Hochner,B (2006) Octopuses use a human-like strategy to control precise point-to-point arm movements. Current Biology 16:767-772
  5. ↑
    • Voight, JR (1997) Cladistic analysis of the octopods based on anatomical characteristics. Journal of Molluscan Studies 63:311-325
    • Lewy, Z (1996) Octopods; nude ammonoids that survived the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundry mass extinction. Geology 24:627-630
    • Kubodera, T & Okutani, T (2004) Eledonine octopods from the Southern Ocean: systematics and distribution. Antarctic Science 6:205-214
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