An octopus’ sucker-covered arm can behave as if it contains a small, partially independent brain. Each arm collects sensory information to drive its own movements, and even those of other arms, without consulting major brain regions.
“Their arms are very mobile.in a study in biology todayshe and her colleagues uncover a bizarre connection that may drive decentralized coordination in these supple limbs.
Researchers investigated the young man’s anatomy Vimacroides of octopusis about the size of a “big tic-tac,” said Adam Coospar, the study’s lead author, who is also in Chicago. They examined the octopus’ intramuscular nerve cord. It is an important part of the invertebrate anatomy that contains multiple types of neurons and contributes to the movement of the entire arm. In most previous studies, “other parts of the arm’s nervous system were very well described, but they remain a mystery,” says Hale.
Researchers tracked the nerve cord with a powerful microscope and found that the nerve cord closest to the sucker extends not only the length of an arm, but two arms away. All eight arms show this pattern. The layout “was unlike anything I’d ever seen before,” Hale says. Hale had expected the cord to create a structure similar to the central ring formed by the larger peripheral nerves.
“I think it’s as simple as saying it’s mathematically efficient,” Kuuspalu said of the newly discovered pattern. When these connections carry sensory and motor signals, they enable rapid communication between relatively distant arms.
San Francisco State University biologist Robyn Crook, who was not involved in the new study, said the study was interesting and related to her work on sensorimotor integration in octopus, squid and squid. “How [intramuscular nerve cords] Whether it’s communicating or sending signals across the body over long distances.
“Now we can approach anatomical studies and behavioral studies a little differently: focus more on what one arm is doing in concert with the more distant arms in the ring. We can,” said Hale’s group, a researcher at the Institute of Marine Biology. “We are in an interesting ‘gentle turmoil’ that is both perplexing and exhilarating when unexpected discoveries are revealed. “
