Why not Cephalopoda and Gastropoda?

[cebrizi@tin.it]

Dear Sirs:
I am an italian 45 years old and a registered user of Marine Aquarium 2. I am trying to gain support to my request of adding cephalopods to Marine Aquarium, or even to make a cephalopod-only edition, just like the sharks aquarium recently issued by LifeGlobe.
I would greatly appreciate if anyone sharing my fondness for cephalopods could contribute any idea or suggestion to this thread.
I think that the quality attained by Marine Aquarium artists is good enough for such a demanding challenge.
In particular, there are three cephalopods I like most:
1) The majestic Architeutis. Dr. Vassili Hurmusiadis has made some good animation some years ago, and this wonderful animal can surely be modeled in poligonal fashion(vassili@bournemouth.ac.uk, see also http://ncca.bournemouth.ac.uk/main/s...nt_squid.html,
also interesting for Physeter macrocephalus, the Sperm Whale).
2) No attempt has ever been made, to my knowledge, to animate one of the swiftest, aggressive and beautiful marine creatures: the Humboldt Giant Squid Dosidicus gigas (you will find lots of reference on the web, see
http://videosystems.com/ar/video_search_red_demon/).
3) Vampyroteuthis infernalis is another extraordinary animal (see http://www.dal.ca/~ceph/TCP/vampy.html)

The challenge is that the form of these animals varies a great deal more than the shape of fishes, and most of all that they can change colour almost instantly - and they literally can glow in the dark in many different colours.
Even the commonest octopus and cuttlefish share this chameleontic capability.

A last word about gastropods. Yes, they move slowly, but there are beautiful creatures. It should suffice to reduce the size of the background area of the screen saver (let's say that an area of a feet across is represented on the screen), and even the most sluggish movements are fast enough to be attractive. Have You ever seen Hydatina alive
(http://www.seaslugforum.net/hydaphys.htm)???

Any comment about these proposals, even negative ones, is appreciated. I hope that if the issue is debated, it can arise the attention of Jim Sachs.

regards and best wishes to everyone

[Marian Nichols]

I do know that Jim plans one of these, a cuttlefish, see left, for the aquarium. I have already ask for one.

[Jim Sachs]

Welcome to the Forum, Cesare. Yes, Cephalopods, Gastropods, and all sorts of invertebrates are planned. It's just a matter of getting enough time to work on them.

Cuttlefish, too, Marian!