With today’s successful launch and orbit of the Endeavour space shuttle, its precious cargo of earth life include the first cephalopods in space, Space-Squids! Among the usual fare of water bears and extremophile bacteria is a small cohort of bobtail squid who are advancing the case for the superiority of cephalopods. Alas, like the Endeavour shuttle the bobtail squids are merely vessels for the symbiotic Vibrio fischeri bacteria that live within them.
The small ark of earth life are part of an experiment to determine how well earth-life can withstand rigors of space travel such as high gravity and zero gravity environments as well as low levels of radiation. Bobtail squid use their symbiotic bacteria for glowing and countershading so that they are less visible at night. If the bobtail squids survive the entire flight schedule, their symbiotic relationship with the Vibrio bacteria will be assessed so we can better serve our ceph overlords in the future.
Further reading- Bobtail Squid Symbiosis
