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Monday, March 27, 2000
Special to the Star-Bulletin
Herb Lee holds up the extra limb.
Childhood accident
most likely cause
of tako’s extra leg
Reader Herb Lee submitted this picture of an octopus he caught off the Leeward coast of Oahu in February. Count the legs with us -- one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight ... NINE?
OK, they're not legs, they're tentacles. But still -- the name comes from the Greek oktopous, meaning 8 feet. Not nine. It's a nine-opus. Is this a new species? A mutant? An atomic monster? Is Godzilla about to surf in at Waianae?
According to Julia Brock in the zoology department at the University of Hawaii, "it does sound a bit odd. Hmmmm. Squids, which are related, can have 10 tentacles. My guess is that it could have been damaged in its youth, or a genetic mutation."
Richard Young in the Oceanography Department at UH was even less impressed. "Oh, it's unusual, but not terribly so," said he. "Describe the legs to me."
Let's see, the eighth and ninth legs appear to be joined at the hip -- or the octopodal equivalent of a hip at any rate -- and branch out an inch or so down.
"Aaaah, it just got whacked when it was young," said Young. "Octopus limbs can regenerate. This one just branched out."
Oh well. A little extra tako never hurt anyone.
Burl Burlingame
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