Friday Squid Blogging: How Flying Squid Fly

Someone has finally proven how:

How do these squid go from swimming to flying? Four phases of flight are described in the research: launching, jetting, gliding and diving.

While swimming, the squid open up their mantle and draw in water. Then these squid launch themselves into the air with a high-powered blast of the water from their bodies. Once launched by this jet propulsion, these squid spread out both their fins and their tentacles to form wings. The squid have a membrane between their tentacles similar to the webbed toes of a frog. This helps them use their tentacles as a wing and create aerodynamic lift so they can glide ­ similar to a well-made paper airplane.

As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven't covered.