Q 01/05

How many limbs does a squid have, and how are they divided?

A) Ten: eight arms and two tentacles

B) Eight: four arms and four tentacles

C) Ten: all arms, no tentacles

D) Ten: six arms and four tentacles

Answer · why

A) Ten: eight arms and two tentacles

The two long tentacles shoot out to grab prey; the eight arms hold and control it while the beak cuts it up.

Q 02/05

What is the rod-like internal skeleton of a squid, made of chitin, called?

A) The sepion

B) The gladius or pen

C) The radula

D) The cuttlebone

Answer · why

B) The gladius or pen

It is all that remains of the ancestral shell and gives the mantle something to attach muscles to.

Q 03/05

Squid belong to the superorder Decapodiformes, a name from the Greek for what?

A) Long-armed

B) Ten-legged

C) Sea-dart

D) Ink-bearer

Answer · why

B) Ten-legged

Octopuses, by contrast, have eight limbs and no tentacles at all.

Q 04/05

Despite its name, the vampire squid is more closely related to which animal?

A) The octopus

B) The cuttlefish

C) The nautilus

D) The bobtail squid

Answer · why

A) The octopus

Bobtail squid and ram's horn squid are also taxonomically distinct from true squid.

Q 05/05

True squid diverged from other cephalopods during which period?

A) The Jurassic

B) The Cambrian

C) The Cretaceous

D) The Triassic

Answer · why

A) The Jurassic

They only became prominent around 100 million years ago, radiating alongside the teleost fish they now resemble.