Wow, what a find! A giant nautiloid fossil right off a busy intersection... over 8 feet long, and 325 million years old. Read all about it on CNN:

Arkansas students discover giant fossil (http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/01/23/arkansas.fossil.ap/index.html)

"The professor said the cephalopod found by the students is a pathological giant, which possibly suffered from parasitic castration. In other words, parasitic algae destroyed the reproductive organs of the creature and the creature continued to grow."

Ouch!!

Steve...am I TOTALLY wrong about this, or not? I thought I very, very dimly recalled someone discussing the mechanism of ceph death, and that they hadn't pinpointed it yet but that it was somewhere in the brain, and that "castration" seemed to have no effect? Maybe I just read it and thought "wonder what castration does"...?

rusty

Ok, heres some food for thought. In the article, they say how cephalopods reproduce when they are young, then die. And the reason that the fossil was so big is because that particular one was castrated, and it could never reproduce and die, which caused it to continue to grow. Now, would it be possible to castrate an octopus, so as to make them live longer? I guess it'd almost be like getting a cat or dog neutered.

What a find!!! Also what an interesting thought about fixing an octopus! I'm curious to hear what the experts think!! I know tumors and such can be removed from fish..... That would be amazing, if possable cause you could extend the life!!!!

Carol

What a find!!! Also what an interesting thought about fixing an octopus! I'm curious to hear what the experts think!! I know tumors and such can be removed from fish..... That would be amazing, if possable cause you could extend the life!!!!

Carol

LOL, Carol, you have just compared certain parts of the male anatomy to tumors. That's a first! I'll just hop along now :wink: and maybe read a book or two; interesting discussion is developing here.
O

More coverage on this story can be found here:

http://www.nwaonline.net/277424060744853.bsp

"The professor said the cephalopod found by the students is a pathological giant, which possibly suffered from parasitic castration. In other words, parasitic algae destroyed the reproductive organs of the creature and the creature continued to grow."

OK, I'm sure the professor knows what he is talking about but why do we need such a complicated explanation for the size of this creature. Why could this creature not be naturally attaining it's normal body size at 8 feet? Just because few other nautiloids have been discovered over 4 feet long could simply be due to the paucity of the fossil record as opposed to some peculiar castration due to parasitic infection.

That seems to be a much more likely explanation.

Yours from cynic corner.......

Hope no-one minds me digging up this older news article, pardon the pun, but this is an interesting link to the same story. There is more detail here with the implication that ancient nautiloids may have been sexually dimorphic.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/01/030127075642.htm

No pictures here, but worth a read.