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Invertebrate wars! Get thee behind me echinoderms

A bizarre geek-fight has erupted in the blogosphere over which types of invertebrates are coolest, Echinoderms or Molluscs.

octopuspunchstockedit.JPGseacucNOAA.jpg

Back on the 20th of March The Intersection blog mused on sea cucumbers and squid, concluding, “No contest! Cukes would eat squid for breakfast…”

This drew a scathing response from some quarters, with Craig McClain on Deep Sea News delivering this cutting put down to the sea cucumber fans:

It’s just hard to get excited about a sea cucumber that either feeds on sediment muck or filters muck out of the water column and not much else. Or an organism whose idea of fun is spewing its organs all over you or creating poop trails.

However the echinoderm faction fought back. Even comics were enlisted and the Snail’s Eye View blog tried to settle the matter with reference to the ultimate arbiter: a google fight. Mollusca comfortably won.

Currently both sides appear to be licking their wounds. A summary of the war to date is here.

Having spent the weekend playing with octopus in the Med, the Great Beyond is committing the full weight of Nature’s reputation behind the mollusca cause. (This may be career jeopardising, by the way, as I have not the slightest right to claim the Nature name in this way.)

Images: Punchstock / NOAA

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    Kara C. said:

    Yeah, but if you type in mollusc versus octopus in the google fight, the cephalopod wins tentacles down! 😀

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