Are octopuses able to hear?

Kenzo Kaifu gave a good presentation at CIAC titled
"Hearing in Octopus"
They tested the theory that the octopus were hearing as they were subjected to sound waves of different frequencies.
Reponses in their behaviour and respiration noted the detectable frequency ranges for two octo species, O. vulgaris and O. ocellatus. They also proposed that larger octos were able to detect and respond to lower frequencies and visa versa!!!
 
I caught that talk and without refering to the program, I think their proposed reasoning was that the vibrations move the octopus in the water enough for it to sense a change (potentially through the statocysts, can't remember). As Jasen said, they did prove a difference between sizes, but I thought it was that smaller octos could detect lower frequencies as they are smaller and more easily moved by less motion. Can't quite put my finger on it but some one else from CIAC surely will remember.

Cheers!
 
OK got my notes!

Sound was defined as "the disturbance of a medium including compression waves and particle movement" and hearing as " An animal hears when it behaves as if it has located a moving source a distance from it"

species involved were O. vulgaris, O. conispadiceus, O. dofleini, O. ocellatus, O. kigoshimensis

Stimulus was 50 - 200Hz at 120dB, indicator that sound was"heard" was increased respiratory activity.

All bar O. dofleini responded.

O. vulgaris responded to 50, 100 Hz.

Others responded to 50, 100 & 150Hz, in addition to increased resp, O. ocellatus and O. kigoshemensis also retracted their eyes (maybe wincing :biggrin2: ).

Reasons suggested for responsed were, different body sizes......smaller were more responsive. It also appeared that particle acceleration was more important than wave length......may increase statolith vibration and cell hair movement in the lateral line analogue!

J
 
Jean said:
All bar O. dofleini responded.
....
Reasons suggested for responsed were, different body sizes......smaller were more responsive. It also appeared that particle acceleration was more important than wave length......may increase statolith vibration and cell hair movement in the lateral line analogue!

Did they say if they'd tried small juvenile O. dofleini to see if it's a size or a species difference? I also wonder if adults are just big & bad enough to not scare as easily...
 
Dofleini's not deaf

hmmm.... my gut feeling (and a little experience) tell me that E. dofleini can hear.. My rock clicking experiences was with large individuals, however the frequency was much higher than 200Hz. I may have to plug a hearing component randomly into my master's thesis to explore this a little more....

And if nothing else, my vote is with Monty...those suckers are just big enought not to worry about stuff like that unless it means they get to eat.
 
monty said:
Did they say if they'd tried small juvenile O. dofleini to see if it's a size or a species difference? I also wonder if adults are just big & bad enough to not scare as easily...

Some one raised this exact question as the conclusion of hearing between species wasn't totally scientifically sound as all the octos weren't the same size. They only had one E. dolfleini , and it wasn't very young or small so that was something to note. Hopefully this research will be continued so we'll all know! :biggrin2:

Cheers!
 
:roll:
hello, dear, now i am very confused.
so what sound frequency are the small octopus able to hear?
someone said 600 hz, otherone 200 hz,............
who can say about this correctly?:troll:
 

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