Fractal Octopus?

Wise blogging practice counsels saving this item for Jurisdynamics' Taxon of the Week feature, but given the prominence of complexity theory on this page of late, I simply couldn't resist.

This fantastic image of Octopus bocki, Bock's pygmy octopus, came to Jurisdynamics' attention by way of PZ Myers's fantastically entertaining blog on biology, Pharyngula. Appropriately enough, PZ asks of this image, "Why am I thinking of the Mandelbrot Set?" Why indeed.

This image appeared originally in Mark Norman, Cephalopods: A World Guide (2000).