Possibly the world's most famous mollusk, Paul the Octopus, died at Sealife Aguarium in Oberhausen, Germany overnight, passing away at age 2 1/2. Paul rose to fame this year after correctly predicting the winners of Germany's seven World Cup matches (including Spain's semi-final victory over Germany, which raised the ire of Germans) and the final between Spain and Netherlands when presented with mussel-filled boxes representing the different teams. The aquarium's general manager Stegan Porwoll said, "Paul inspired people of all continents. He won all our hearts, and we will sorely miss him.” more ›

Paul the Psychic Octopus from Germany's Oberhausen Sea Life Aquarium correctly predicted that Germany would win its third-place World Cup match against Uruguay yesterday, making it his sixth correction prediction. As Der Spiegel explains, "He 'predicts' by choosing a mussel from one of two possible containers, both marked with national flags." However, Paul is not popular in his home country, with people threatening to grill him. Spain's environmental minister said Spain might offer asylum "so that the Germans don't eat him." After all, Paul did predict that Spain would beat the Netherlands in today's match (on ABC at 2:30 p.m.!); video of his prediction after the jump. Update: Spain defeated the Netherlands, 1-0. Long live, Paul! more ›

Last month PETA announced their distaste for restaurants serving live octopus. They wrote letters, protested, and are currently investigating the issue throughout the city. For now, the twitching dish is still being served up, and the Daily News just sent one brave writer to sink his teeth into it. more ›

Tonight PETA plans to protest some of the restaurants they've called out for serving live animals (HuffPo has a pretty intense video slideshow). Earlier this month they wrote letters to various District Attorneys concerning the restaurants in their jurisdictions which were plating animals with pulses—some of which were well documented by the Gastronauts club (maybe next time the creatures will steal their cameras!). more ›

PETA is now focusing their gaze on the city's octopus community... which some find quite delicious! The organization's David Perle tells us they're addressing disturbing practices they've found in Manhattan and Queens restaurants, and aim to stop the "chopping up or slowly steaming live octopuses and serving them while they're still conscious." more ›

Brooklyn artist Anthony Clune says from his Gowanus studio he "can smell the overflow sewage that cascades into the canal after heavy rains, inhale the concrete dust billowing from mixing facilities, and meditate on the prismatic oil-slick rainbow floating out to sea." So he gave what he calls his Gowanus Canal Tonky Octopus some text in hopes of hurrying the cleanup process, which is currently being debated about as city and state debate the pros and cons of a Superfund status. Clune says, "The Gowanus Canal area is an unhealthy place for New Yorkers to live and work and I hope it gets cleaned up soon. It seems that adding the area to EPA’s Superfund list is the most expeditious way to do so." However, the Bloomberg administration has said it would take two decades for the EPA to finish their cleanup, and would stall the city's cleanup (and development). more ›

Happy Halloween! Warning: These videos of various animals at the Wildlife Conservation Society's facilities may be too distractingly cute. more ›