Octopuses react reflexively to light when it ends
up on the animal's arms, even if it cannot see it with its eyes.
Without joints and legs, the octopus' arm can move in any direction.
Then add that it has eight pieces, and you can imagine
that it can be difficult to keep track of all of them.
Now, Israeli
researchers may have discovered a clue about how the octopus keeps track of its
limbs, in a study published earlier in February in the Journal of Experimental
Biology.
The arms can react to light, even if the octopus does
not see the light in question.
Would investigate
camouflage
The researchers
at the Ruppin Academic Center made the discovery while studying a completely
different phenomenon, the octopus' ability to change color.
When they shone on the octopus' arms, they noticed
that it was pulling them back, even though it was sleeping at the moment.
The researchers
continued the experiments by letting the octopus search for food by sticking
its arm in a hole in a space where it could not see inside.
When the researchers then shone on the octopus' arm,
it withdrew its arm in 84 percent of the cases, reports The New York Times.
- They can feel
the light through the arm.
They do not need the eyes for it, says Nir Nesher, one
of the researchers, to the newspaper.
Not just reflexes
Exactly why the
octopus has this ability is unclear, but one theory is that it can stay hidden,
and does not risk being bitten by hungry crabs or fish that can confuse an
octopus arm with a worm when they see them.
Nor are
researchers completely sure how the ability works.
It does not seem to be completely reflex controlled,
but requires the squid's brain to function.
When the researchers anesthetized the octopus, the
ability to function ceased.
The octopus also does not seem to be directly
dependent on the skin.
Because even if it got rid of a piece of skin, it
reacted to the light when it fell directly on the underlying muscle.
Source: svt
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