Creature:Squidman

Squidmen are creatures that resemble walking cephalopods, but they, of course, have some differences.

Compare

 * mantle


 * intellegent


 * ten tentacles


 * siphon


 * beak

Contrast

 * land dwelling


 * third eye


 * grasping tentacles has 2 digits


 * hind tentacles have hooks at the tips


 * endoskelton


 * siphon has two nostrils


 * siphon is for breathing only. The anus is a sperate orifice.


 * has a grapser on top of its mantle

Anatomy
The squidman has similar anatomical structures, but also has some diferences, as explained above.

Tentacles
The squidman has six walking tentacles, two grabbing tentacles, and two hunting tentacles. The walking ones have rings of thick muscles to mimick bones, and still allow flexiblity, and a single bone in each foot to provide support. The the hands at the tip of the grabbing tentacles have bones inside to imrpove graping. And the hunting tentacles are tipped with sharp bony claws to kill prey.

Grasper
The grasper on top of the squidmans mantle is designed to grab things if the real hands become full and to kill prey.

Skeleton
The only bones that are in the Squidmans body are hand bones inside the hand at the end of its grapsing tentacles, single feet bones inside the locomotive tentacles, a bony sheild to house its brain, and a spinal column inside its mantle.

Senses
The squidman, like humans on earth, has 5 senses. The hands are sensitive to touch, the siphon can smell, the three eyes can see, special bones within the rim of the mantle can hear, and the beak within the toungue can taste.

Third Eye
The third, central, compound eyes use is to provide extra vision.

Brain
The squidman has a big four-lobed brain encased in a protective bony case within the mantle.

Nerve Cord
The squidman literally has two nerve cords trailing from the brain stem, one in the mantle, and the other in the bottom.

Ingestion
Like Earth squids, the squidman has a beak at the center of the ring of the tentacles. Within the beak there are heterodont teeth used to slice the food into more ingestible bits. Special musclesin the throat and esophagus help bring the food upward into the stomach, while a flap in the throat closes the trachea in order to prevent choking.

Digestion
Digestive juices help break down the food into a liquid. Mucus lining the stomach help prevent the stomach from digesting itself.

Small Intestines
The small intestines' walls are covered in villi, which in turn are covered in microvilli. Their purpose is to collect nutrients from the liquid inside the bile. The longest tract in the digestive system.

Large Intestines
The large intestines absorb water from the food eaten. Like in humans, there is symbiotic life in the large intestines of the squidman to help out the tract.

Defecation
The squidmans rectum holds the waste. The waste then exits through the cloaca (a multipurpose orifice for urination, defecation, and reproduction).

Repiratory System
The squidman has two tracheae. The first one is in the siphon which leads to a large heart-shaped lung and the second one leads to the throat.

Vocalisation
The trachea that leads to the throat has a larnyx for producing sounds. Squidmen make bird-like noises.

Reproduction
Squidman males can show that they are looking for love by flushing blood around the eyes to create an attractive color. The males then create a series of mating calls, and if a female answers the calls, she is ready to mate.

Squidman males do not have a phallus. Instead, they have exendable cloaca that is able to reach the female one (but the two have to stick together). The female cloaca is able to invert the male one. The male then deposits sperm in the female, and matings's done.