Specimen of the Week: Week Nineteen

Tomorrow is pancake day- hoorah!! I have grand plans of marmite pancakes for my starter, chilli con carne pancakes for my main course, and golden syrup and chocolate pancakes for pudding. Maybe I’ll have a cheese pancake course too? Mmmmm. Whilst salivating over tomorrow’s dinner I decided it only appropriate to choose a seasonally relevant specimen for the blog. This week’s specimen of the week is:

 

**!!!The Japanese Pancake Devil Fish!!!**

 

1) The menacingly named Japanese pancake devil fish is actually not a fish. Making it both menacing and a con artist, and thus clearly the villain of any marine action thriller. It is in fact, a type of octopus that has the tendency to flatten itself… like a pancake.

 

2) The males and females can be differentiated based on the number of suckers on each of the arms. The males have far fewer than the females which can have over 50.

 

3) In another conspiracy to confuse, the Japanese pancake devil fish is not solely found in Japan. They also inhabit the waters off the coastline of California. Which, I grant you, is not far from Japan (if you’re an octopus), but an inappropriate name nevertheless I would suggest.

 

4) The origin of the word pancake does not come from the pancake devil fish, no no. It in fact originates from a cake-like dish made of eggs, milk, and flour, that is cooked in a pan.

 

5) Japanese pancake devil fish live waaaaaaaaaaaaay deep down in the sea, normally between 130 – 1100 m with the other weird and scary creatures like the one on Finding Nemo.

 

This pancake day, either before or after your own delicious golden syrup filled feast, come and see a real pancake in the flesh!