Cephalopod behaviour.

Underlying all animal behaviors, from the simplest reflexive reactions to the more complex cognitive reasoning and social interaction, are nervous systems uniquely adapted to bodies, environments, and challenges of different animal species. Coleoid cephalopods - octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish - are widely recognized as the most behaviorally complex invertebrates and provide exciting opportunities for studying the neural control of behaviour. These unusual molluscs evolved over 400 million years ago from slow-moving armored forms to active predators of coastal and open ocean ecosystems.

Recording electrical activity from the brain of behaving octopus.

Octopuses, which are among the most intelligent invertebrates, have no skeleton and eight flexible arms whose sensory and motor activities are at once autonomous and coordinated by a complex central nervous system. The octopus brain contains a very large number of neurons, organized into numerous distinct lobes, the functions of which have been proposed based largely on the results of lesioning experiments. In other species, linking brain activity to behavior is done by implanting electrodes and directly correlating electrical activity with observed animal behavior.

Protocol for controlled behavioral testing of octopuses using a single-arm tactile discrimination two-choice task.

Due to their unique body, standard behavioral testing protocols are often hard to apply to octopuses. Our protocol enables controlled behavioral testing of the sensory systems in single arms while allowing observation of the arm motion. The protocol allows the researcher to exclude the sense of vision without surgical manipulation and selectively test peripheral sensory input-derived learning and motor behavior.

Neuroecology: Forces that shape the octopus brain.

Octopuses inhabit almost all seas in the world. A new study on tropical species suggests that, as in vertebrates, folding in the brain and visual system might be linked to habitat and lifestyle.

Identification and Characterization of a Rhodopsin Kinase Gene in the Suckers of : Looking around Using Arms?

In their foraging behavior octopuses rely on arm search movements outside the visual field of the eyes. In these movements the environment is explored primarily by the suckers that line the entire length of the octopus arm. In this study, for the first time, we report the complete characterization of a light-sensing molecule, Ov-GRK1, in the suckers, skin and retina of .

Use of Peripheral Sensory Information for Central Nervous Control of Arm Movement by Octopus vulgaris.

Octopuses are active predators with highly flexible bodies and rich behavioral repertoires [1-3]. They display advanced cognitive abilities, and the size of their large nervous system rivals that of many mammals. However, only one third of the neurons constitute the CNS, while the rest are located in an elaborate PNS, including eight arms, each containing myriad sensory receptors of various modalities [2-4].

The underestimated giants: operant conditioning, visual discrimination and long-term memory in giant tortoises.

Relatively little is known about cognition in turtles, and most studies have focused on aquatic animals. Almost nothing is known about the giant land tortoises. These are visual animals that travel large distances in the wild, interact with each other and with their environment, and live extremely long lives.

Animal Behavior: Socializing Octopus.

Building on the recently published Octopus bimaculoides genome, a new study identifies an evolutionarily conserved neural mechanism for serotonergic regulation of social behaviors.

Pull or Push? Octopuses Solve a Puzzle Problem.

Octopuses have large brains and exhibit complex behaviors, but relatively little is known about their cognitive abilities. Here we present data from a five-level learning and problem-solving experiment. Seven octopuses (Octopus vulgaris) were first trained to open an L shaped container to retrieve food (level 0).

Guidelines for the Care and Welfare of Cephalopods in Research -A consensus based on an initiative by CephRes, FELASA and the Boyd Group.

This paper is the result of an international initiative and is a first attempt to develop guidelines for the care and welfare of cephalopods (i.e. nautilus, cuttlefish, squid and octopus) following the inclusion of this Class of ∼700 known living invertebrate species in Directive 2010/63/EU.

Octopus arm movements under constrained conditions: adaptation, modification and plasticity of motor primitives.

The motor control of the eight highly flexible arms of the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) has been the focus of several recent studies. Our study is the first to manage to introduce a physical constraint to an octopus arm and investigate the adaptability of stereotypical bend propagation in reaching movements and the pseudo-limb articulation during fetching. Subjects (N=6) were placed inside a transparent Perspex box with a hole at the center that allowed the insertion of a single arm.

Unveiling the morphology of the acetabulum in octopus suckers and its role in attachment.

In recent years, the attachment mechanism of the octopus sucker has attracted the interest of scientists from different research areas, including biology, engineering, medicine and robotics. From a technological perspective, the main goal is to identify the underlying mechanisms involved in sucker attachment for use in the development of new generations of artificial devices and materials. Recently, the understanding of the morphology of the sucker has been significantly improved; however, the mechanisms that allow attachment remain largely unknown.

Behavioral analysis of cuttlefish traveling waves and its implications for neural control.

Traveling waves (from action potential propagation to swimming body motions or intestinal peristalsis) are ubiquitous phenomena in biological systems and yet are diverse in form, function, and mechanism. An interesting such phenomenon occurs in cephalopod skin, in the form of moving pigmentation patterns called "passing clouds". These dynamic pigmentation patterns result from the coordinated activation of large chromatophore arrays.

Cephalopods in neuroscience: regulations, research and the 3Rs.

Cephalopods have been utilised in neuroscience research for more than 100 years particularly because of their phenotypic plasticity, complex and centralised nervous system, tractability for studies of learning and cellular mechanisms of memory (e.g. long-term potentiation) and anatomical features facilitating physiological studies (e.

The morphology and adhesion mechanism of Octopus vulgaris suckers.

The octopus sucker represents a fascinating natural system performing adhesion on different terrains and substrates. Octopuses use suckers to anchor the body to the substrate or to grasp, investigate and manipulate objects, just to mention a few of their functions. Our study focuses on the morphology and adhesion mechanism of suckers in Octopus vulgaris.

Social learning in Cartilaginous fish (stingrays Potamotrygon falkneri).

Social learning is considered one of the hallmarks of cognition. Observers learn from demonstrators that a particular behavior pattern leads to a specific consequence or outcome, which may be either positive or negative. In the last few years, social learning has been studied in a variety of taxa including birds and bony fish.

Octopus vulgaris uses visual information to determine the location of its arm.

Octopuses are intelligent, soft-bodied animals with keen senses that perform reliably in a variety of visual and tactile learning tasks. However, researchers have found them disappointing in that they consistently fail in operant tasks that require them to combine central nervous system reward information with visual and peripheral knowledge of the location of their arms. Wells claimed that in order to filter and integrate an abundance of multisensory inputs that might inform the animal of the position of a single arm, octopuses would need an exceptional computing mechanism, and "There is no evidence that such a system exists in Octopus, or in any other soft bodied animal.

A new method for studying problem solving and tool use in stingrays (Potamotrygon castexi).

Testing the cognitive abilities of cartilaginous fishes is important in understanding the evolutionary origins of cognitive functions in higher vertebrates. We used five South American fresh water stingrays (Potamotrygon castexi) in a learning and problem-solving task. A tube test apparatus was developed to provide a simple but sophisticated procedure for testing cognitive abilities of aquatic animals.

Does Octopus vulgaris have preferred arms?

Previous behavioral studies in Octopus vulgaris revealed lateralization of eye use. In this study, the authors expanded the scope to investigate arm preferences. The octopus's generalist hunting lifestyle and the structure of their arms suggest that these animals have no need to designate specific arms for specific tasks.

Contrasting activity patterns of two related octopus species, Octopus macropus and Octopus vulgaris.

Octopus macropus and Octopus vulgaris have overlapping habitats and are exposed to similar temporal changes. Whereas the former species is described as nocturnal in the field, there are conflicting reports about the activity time of the latter one. To compare activity patterns, the authors tested both species in the laboratory.

When do octopuses play? Effects of repeated testing, object type, age, and food deprivation on object play in Octopus vulgaris.

Studying play behavior in octopuses is an important step toward understanding the phylogenetic origins and function of play as well as the cognitive abilities of invertebrates. Fourteen Octopus vulgaris (7 subadults and 7 adults) were presented 2 Lego objects and 2 different food items on 7 consecutive days under 2 different levels of food deprivation. Nine subjects showed play-like behavior with the Lego objects.

Octopus arm choice is strongly influenced by eye use.

This study aims to investigate the octopus' eye and arm coordination and raises the question if visual guidance determines choice of arm use. Octopuses possess eight seemingly identical arms but have recently been reported to show a preference as to which arm they use to initiate contact with objects. These animals also exhibit lateralized eye use, therefore, a connection between eye and arm preference seems possible.