Nine Pieces of Eight: The Minds of an Octopus

Part of what draws us biologists to our field is the chance to observe and learn about the many different superpowers that lifeforms possess in nature; adaptations, as we call them. At one point or another, I think we all must face that fact that there is a true superman among Earth’s different creatures; the octopus. This marvel of the ocean exhibits many different superpowers: camouflage, shape-shifting, texture-shifting, ink-expelling, venomous bites, glowing, and regeneration to name just a few. What people don’t realize is just how alien this Kryptonian really is in terms of physiology. What sets the octopus apart from other species is its central nervous systems (plural). In addition to having a brain, an octopus has eight other centralized nervous systems; one in each of its arms. 

This unique octopus feature is what makes them such good multi-taskers. It would be as if you or I had brains in our hands that made them operate separately with surroundings without our direct central control. The arms of an octopus have their own neural integration centers and can interact with stimuli without the octopus brain consciously processing it. In fact, according to AGU research, octopus arms can communicate with each other without the brain ‘listening in’ because of a neural ‘ring’ that skirts around it while also connecting to each of the integration centers in the eight arms. Our analogy of thinking hands could be expanded; the neural ring structure would be as if our hands were talking with each other behind our backs. Further evidence of the divided central nervous systems can be seen when measuring the neural activity in each appendage when an octopus is going about its daily routines. If a scientist were to measure the neural activity in each of the arms of the octopus while it was interacting with something the scientist would observe that different electrical patterns occur in each of the arms; this indicates that each arm is acting as a separate entity in the octopus’s environment.  

Learning about all these additional ‘brains’ causes one to wonder; “what would happen if one of the octopus arms were to be cut off?”. Octopus’s sometimes cut off their own limbs to escape from predators (making it clear that they don’t have much sentimental value for the semi-conscious beings attached to them). In this scenario, most people would focus on the escaping octopus in wonder of its abilities. However, if one were to watch the amputated limb left behind, their jaws would drop even further when they saw the lone tentacle crawl away by itself. According to this article, when this chopped off tentacle by chance comes into contact with a tasty morsel, it will automatically grasp it and move it towards the absent mouth of its octopus body. Unfortunately for the tentacle, without the mouth and digestive system of it former body, it will die alone without its tentacle brethren. Even if the octopus were to come back for its lost arm, there are biological mechanisms that prevent the amputated arm to latch back on to its owner. These biological mechanisms, which are rooted in the chemical composition of the octopus’ skin, are the reason why octopus arms don’t get entangled while they are accomplishing a task. 

After reading this, you might think to yourself, “Wow! Wish I were an octopus! They are so lucky with all their superpowers!”. The octopus is indeed a superman among the world’s creatures. Remember though that Superman is not from our planet. Relatedly, octopuses are often described by astro-biologists as the closet thing on our Earth to an alien life form. We may not have as many superpowers as the octopus but hey, at least we’re human. Who knows, maybe if we’re lucky we’ll get ourselves some more adaptations down the line, though come to think of it, this would take several thousand generations.

-David Frykenberg (Week 7)