J-1 Dies

Sadly, our favorite giant Octopus has left us. J-1 passed recently- but not before his beloved Aurora laid her clutch of eggs. According to the article, J-1 left this life "parasite-free" internally- which sounds like a good thing- and the Alaska SeaLife Center was able to salvage some "interesting tissue"- which does not sound good at all- including "the radula- a rasp like tongue".

www.alaskasealife.org/site/visitors/aqdept/spupdate

J-1 originally appeared on my Blog here.

http://frankmcgrath.blogspot.com/2004/11/j-1.html

However, in more upbeat news, Aurora is happily brooding and defending her clutch- having dropped a large rock deliberately on a Mottled Sea Star.