Parting Shot

Robyn Hughes · Issue 88, Jan/Feb 2016 · pp. 81

Products mentioned: Canon 7D Mk II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

Parting Shot Do you have a shot which has a story within a story? If so e mail it with up to 500 words of text and yours could be the next Parting Shot. peter@uwpmag.com Whale-kill. Presumably killed by a bite that took out the head and a large chunk of internal organs, this female giant octopus (Haliphron atlanticus) was observed floating off the Azores. It brought to the surface some interesting questions: What killed it? Why was it only partially eaten? Why bright red? The colour is probably the easiest to explain. Red pigment is relatively cheap to make in terms of energy required. But also, red light can not penetrate any where near the depths below 300 metres where this species lives. In the darkness of the abyss, red pigment absorbs whatever light from the blue end of the spectrum that reaches it, reflects none, and so cloaks the animal in black invisibility. Colour though, is no …