Archive for March 5th, 2008
Hexed!
A hexapus, not a six-legged octopus
By Tom Chivers and agencies : Last Updated: 2:39am GMT : 04/03/2008
It would of course be technically nonsensical to describe this creature as a “six-legged octopus”.
“Octopus” meaning “eight-legged”, it would be similar to talking about a “three-wheeled bicycle”.
Henry the Hexapus – as he has been christened by his keepers – is a resident of Blackpool Sea Life Centre in the north-west of England.
Found two weeks ago in a lobster-pot off the coast of north Wales, Henry was one of eight “lesser octopuses” that Sea Life took delivery of from Anglesey Sea Zoo.
His shortage of extremities is the result of a genetic defect, rather than an accident, and he is believed to be the first of his six-legged kind known to humanity.
2 comments March 5, 2008
