It's real. In fact, it's a lovely example of the noble Grimpoteuthis -- the crazy-deep-water-dwelling "Dumbo Octopus", so named for its big floppy ears (or whatever the heck those things are). Collision Detection reader Paul Gemperle sent me a couple of links to some amazing photos of Grimpoteuthis, as well as a short French documentary of the thing in action.

The video is hallucinogenically strange in the way that only films of benthic-depth sea creatures can be: Gauzy see-through animals lazily turn themselves inside out, ultracreepy writhing masses of collective-life-form tentacles lunge for prey, and Dumbo octopuses impassively regard the camera lens with what appears to be an intelligence probably not much lower than a member of Congress. In one shot, a huge-ass lidded eye attached to some snouted celaphopod opened up to stare at me and I was like, man -- this stuff looks like a Ridley Scott f/x masterpiece. Or a really awesome video game.

All of which made me think: Deep-sea life is so aggressively odd-looking that it's indistiguishable from Hollywood CGI creations. Sure, that Dumbo octopus is real; but if it weren't, how could you tell? Someone ought to harness this blurriness as a pedagogical technique. They could make a short documentary aimed at grade-school kids that mixes fake CGI sea animals with real ones, and challenges them to figure out which is which. It'd be a nice way to hammer home the central fun of marine biology, and of science in general: Why bother making things up when reality outweirds you every day?

(Thanks to Paul for this one!)