Cephalopods in popular culture (original) (raw)

Cephalopods, specifically pertaining to octopuses, squids, nautiluses and cuttlefishes, are most commonly represented in popular culture in the Western world as creatures that spray ink and latch onto things with their tentacles without releasing. The octopus has been used as a (usually negative) metaphor for entity which is perceived as sending out many "tentacles" from one "center" in order to exert power and control.