A Six-Legged Hexapus
It would of course be technically nonsensical to describe this creature as a "six-legged octopus"."Octopus" meaning "eight-legged", it would be similar to talking about a "three-wheeled bicycle".
What this picture depicts, therefore, is a hexapus. Henry the Hexapus - as he has been christened by his keepers - is a resident of Blackpool Sea Life Centre in the north-west of England.
His shortage of extremities is the result of a genetic defect, rather than an accident, and he is believed to be the first of his six-legged kind known to humanity.
Source: Telegraph
Tags: Henry | Hexapus | Octopus
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Maybe I'm mistaken, but is not the prefix 'HEX' as in "hexagon"for a 5 side or the prefix 'PENT' as in "pentagram", mean 5?. When you hear about these multiple births due to in vitro fertilization and there are 6 babies delivered for instance, are they not called "sextuplets". So there fore would not "Henry" the 'pus' actually be a "SEXAPUS"?? Just a thought.... AGRO
Posted by
Anonymous on
05 March, 2008 19:31
no. pentagons have 5 sides, true, but hexagons have 6. the numbering terms for babies are completely different than the numbering terms for shapes. hence, they're called quintuplets when there are 5 of them, and not "pentuplets".
Posted by
Anonymous on
11 March, 2008 09:06