Mollusk news, features and articles

The oldest-known sex chromosome emerged in octopus and squid between 455 million and 248 million years ago — 180 million years earlier than the previous record-holder, scientists have discovered.

Enigmatic octopuses that have been newly discovered in the waters off Costa Rica add to a growing registry of deep-sea dwellers.

Scientists have filmed one of the only squids known to brood their eggs — the black-eyed squid — swimming with thousands of unhatched offspring suspended from hooks on its arms.

An Australian teenager had a lucky escape after being bitten by an extremely toxic blue-ringed octopus. A toddler also came close to touching the deadly cephalopod.

Two new species of pygmy squid have been discovered off Okinawa and named after mythical creatures.

The margarita sea snail, which shoots out a toxic mucus web to catch prey, was discovered on a coral reef in the Florida Keys and was named after Buffett, who died on Sept. 1.

This frilly slug lives in the mangroves of southeastern Asia and Australia, lounging in shallow pools of water and scraping up algae from which it gains the ability to photosynthesize.

This parasitic worm crawls into the eyestalks of snails, takes over its brain then pulsates to make the mollusk look like a dancing caterpillar.

On an expedition in Hawaii, a remote underwater vehicle filmed a dumbo octopus swimming with its ear-like fins near the seafloor. The pale white creature is one of the deepest-dwelling octopuses on Earth.

The seven-arm octopus, which actually has eight arms, is one of the largest octopus species and is rarely seen by people because it normally dwells in the deep sea.