Danna Staaf

This is so heartwarming. A few days ago a large cephalopod washed up on the beach in Florida, and

Beachgoers rushed to the squid's aid. It was spitting out ink and seemed weak, [Lifeguard] Gorman said. "It's used to being in places that are dark and black," he said. "To be in the sunshine on the beach was not a good spot."

Er, not to mention that between wet and dry, cephalopods have a definite preference. Here's a video of people collecting the creature into a cooler and bringing it out to deeper water:

 

The media are calling it a squid, but I'm not so sure. I don't seen any fins at all in that footage, so I'm thinking octopus. (Some octopuses do have fins, but some don't. All squid have fins.) But what species of octopus? I'm a bit stuck. I don't know Atlantic cephs as well as Pacific cephs (the curse of pursuing most of my higher education in one ocean) and although the general shape reminds me of a female Ocythoe, the arm webbing is all wrong.


(I do not know why there is a cat in that image.)

But whatever it was, I'm glad it touched the empathy centers of the people on the beach.

"He'll probably get eaten by a shark," Gorman said. "But I'd rather have [the squid] die in the ocean where it's supposed to."