Tuesday, March 4, 2008

A Six-Legged Hexapus

octopus.jpg

It would of course be technically nonsensical to describe this creature as a "six-legged octopus".

"Octopus" meaning "eight-legged", it would be similar to talking about a "three-wheeled bicycle".

What this picture depicts, therefore, is a hexapus. Henry the Hexapus - as he has been christened by his keepers - is a resident of Blackpool Sea Life Centre in the north-west of England.

His shortage of extremities is the result of a genetic defect, rather than an accident, and he is believed to be the first of his six-legged kind known to humanity.

Source: Telegraph

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