I've just found this highly entertaining and fantastic site: The Speculative Dinosaur Project.

The premise of the idea on this site is what the flora and fauna of earth could be like if the meteorite had not impacted 65 million years ago. It covers much of the same ground as 'The Future Is Wild' but has some pages purely dedicated to cephalopods. This site is worth looking at for the pictures alone and a lot of work has gone into it.

Cephalopoda (http://www.bowdoin.edu/~dbensen/Spec/Balaenatheuthia.html)

Balaenateuthia (http://www.bowdoin.edu/~dbensen/Spec/Baleen-squid.html)

Personal favourite? Anomaloteuthis improbabilis. How evolution has gone full circle.....

Great stuff.

Wait so are these things real?

This fantastic-looking, metre-long creature was discovered quite recently in deep waters off the Galapagos Islands and has since turned up at other sites across the tropical Pacific. Immediately noticeable to its discoverers was the row of six small, rounded flippers running down the length of each side of the mantle. At the time, such a configuration was unknown in other balaenateuths.

I'm afraid not, but the descriptions sound convincing enough!

Mind you, thats probably a relief. You should see some of the dinosaurs on the other pages. Wow.

Wait so are these things real?

This fantastic-looking, metre-long creature was discovered quite recently in deep waters off the Galapagos Islands and has since turned up at other sites across the tropical Pacific. Immediately noticeable to its discoverers was the row of six small, rounded flippers running down the length of each side of the mantle. At the time, such a configuration was unknown in other balaenateuths.

My question indeed!
It was an interesting read though.




Jesse