cephalopod #2
元々は熱帯や亜熱帯の海に生息するヒョウモンダコですが、温暖化の影響により生息地が北へ広がり、数年前からは日本海側でも相次いで発見されています。
Warming oceans may be behind spread of 'killer' octopus in Sea of Japan
MIYAZU, Kyoto -- Tiny and highly venomous blue-ringed octopi have begun showing up along the Sea of Japan coast in recent years in another possible sign of the effects of global warming
中略
It is thought that warm ocean currents carried the octopi north into Japanese waters. They have increasingly been captured in the Pacific waters off the Kanto region. In recent years, they have been spotted in the Sea of Japan off northern Kyushu and western Honshu. Since 2009, they have also been found further north in the sea off Fukui and Kyoto prefectures once every few years. According to the Kyoto fisheries technology center, seven of the cephalopods have been reported in the prefecture since autumn last year, with witnesses saying they saw octopi crawling along rocky underwater surfaces. The center believes that the water in the area may now be warm enough year-round for the animals to winter in local inlets.
http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20160222/p2a/00m/0na/020000c
今回取り上げるのは、“cephalopod”という表現です。この単語をCambridge Dictionaries On-lineで調べてみると、“an animal such as an octopus or squid, that has tentacles (= long parts like arms) around the head”と定義されていました。さらに『ジーニアス英和辞典』（大修館書店）でも確認してみると、「〚動〛〈イカ・タコの類〉頭足類」と記載されていました。語源としては、ギリシア語で「頭（kephale）」と「足(podos)」を合わせた単語から派生したようです。(ninetails)
