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lizerdspherex — Land Cutlefish
Published: 2012-02-11 21:47:35 +0000 UTC; Views: 776; Favourites: 20; Downloads: 9
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Description
Just my idea of what could be if cuttlefish where to evolve onto land.Just imagine after a mass extinction of 99% Vertebrates go extinct, and all that's left is all thing squishy, slimy, shelled, and segmented.
As time goes by without advance predators small and fast creatures take an evolutionary leap to fill the niche. Cuttlefish quickly grow a cartilage based skeleton that came from their cuttle bone, giving them a stronger frame, and allowing them to move faster in the water.
Then as time goes by they adapt a way to move onto land and soon rule it.
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Comments: 4
This is great!
I wonder though whether a cuttlefish would be more likely to evolve legs from its tentacles. Or maybe giant bus-sized cuttlefish could glide along on muscle ridges derived from their skirts, as though riding on twin boa-constrictors 
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That's an interesting idea! I wonder if the "side skirts" would have enough strength to support the weight... You can't be elevated above the ground on muscle alone, there would have to be a supportive structure, either in the tentacles and the fin, at least bits of cartillage arranged into culomns, and even though, the first cephalopods who would make it on dry land would be fairly small I think, especially because of the lack of sufficient supportive structure¨, and there would have to be no competition from other land animals, because they are already much better adapted for terrestrial lifestyle
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I'm envisioning the fins being adapted into very short thick ridges covered in chitin scutes. Maybe in the largest cephalopods the scutes would articulate into a skeletal structure akin to this: [link]
I'm not sure that there can't be competition from land animals. Any land-going cephalopod is bound to occupy a totally different niche from anything on land today (what other animal is soft, intelligent, and able to change color? ).
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Ah. I get what you mean
I just imagined those clumsy cephalopods and what would they do to deal with potential predators, but the color changing ability would be of great use probably, as well as venom. 
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