Today is Cephalopod Awareness Day!

So, have you hugged your octopus today? I haven't because mine is far south at the Alaska Sealife Center in Seward. I know it's my octopus because, when I sit quietly in front of its tank, it looks me right in the eye and then it slowly begins to dance. Its tentacles curve and spiral. The membranes between its tentacles billow and sway. I'm enchanted. I could sit for hours watching, and I do. I am convinced this amazing creature is trying to communicate with me. Cephalopods are smart.

Here's what you can do to celebrate Cephalopod Awareness Day (stolen directly from The Octopus News Magazine Online):

1. Tell a friend some random things you know about cephalopods.
2. Hug your cephalopod plushy.
3. Meditate for 15 minutes and imagine yourself as a benthic octopus, feeling in the dark, cold ocean floor with your eight independently-sensory arms ... passing food up to your beak which is located under your head.
4. Eat cheddar-filled jalapeno poppers as a way of supporting that product, in hopes they will eclipse deep-fried calamari as the mid-grade appetizer of choice ... poppers, yum!
5. Sculpt an octopus out of mashed potatoes (you were full from the poppers anyhow).
6. Make octopus shaped pancakes for breakfast.

And, last of all, check out Cephalopod Centerfold, a blog dedicated to all things cephalopod. Plus it's funny.

So, if you're at the Sea Life Center and the octopus dances for you? Don't tell me. I want to keep thinking it likes me best!

Update: If squids are your favorite cephalopods, take a look at the squid site.