SF Ocean Film Festival: Mollusks Rule, QED

Hands down, my favorite film from this year's SF Ocean Film Festival was Cuttlefish – The Brainy Bunch, a 52 minute, BBC produced detective story by filmmaker Gisela Kaufmann. In it, we follow Australian cuttlefish researcher Dr. Mark Norman as he reveals how these shape-shifting champions can hypnotize their prey, impersonate the opposite sex (yes, cuttlefish can be cross-dressers!) and even turn out to be deadly. We also learn that these cephalopods are tops in invertebrate brainpower (cuttlefish rule, octopus drool!).

One particularly bizzaro cuttlefish, and the subject of Dr Norman's research, is the aptly named Flamboyant cuttlefish (Metasepia pfefferi), a species of cuttlefish occurring in tropical Indo-Pacific waters off northern Australia, southern New Guinea, as well as numerous islands of the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. No larger than a hen's egg, this particular species of cuttlefish is the only one known to walk upon the sea floor. It's ability to hover in midwater like it's larger cuttlefish relatives is limited due to the small size of its cuttlebone. It can float only for a very limited time.

The Brainy Bunch is part detective story as it follows Dr Norman as he attempts to determine whether the Flamboyant cuttlfish's strange behavior (being small, seemingly defenseless, and active out in the open) is in part because the species is toxic.

Well, at the risk of spoiling the suspense, I'll say Norman discovers that the Flamboyant is indeed toxic. Its muscle tissue carries a potent toxin on a par with the Blue-Ringed octopus.

But The Brainy Bunch is more than just a story of poisons. It's a fabulous and well paced film that demonstrates why mollusks are truly the most amazing phylum on the planet. You hear that Jason, Eric, Sheril, and Kevin? I'm going on the record here!