Cephalopod Videos

Published on Jun 20, 2014
http://www.sciencefriday.com
Its Latin name translates as "the vampire squid from hell." And while its crimson skin and glowing eyes support its title, deep sea ecologists like Bruce Robison of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute have come to see the vampire squid as the antithesis of a bloodsucking predator. In fact, studies have shown that Vampyroteuthis infernalis is actually a gentle steward of the ocean's depths, gracefully foraging on marine detritus.

Produced by Christian Baker
Music by Audio Network
Additional Footage Provided by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

 
Sea Monsters - The Definitive Guide (2016)
@Tintenfisch @GPO87 demyth the Giant Squid during a dissection via Natgeotv's
SEA MONSTERS: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE explores the most (in)famous legends of the ocean using the latest scientific technology and deep sea submersibles. During the hour-long special, viewers join the world’s leading experts as they investigate the myths and the truths behind these extraordinary creatures.

Sea Monsters - The Definitive Guide (2016) - Video Dailymotion
 
Published on Feb 14, 2017
Those hundreds of powerful suckers on octopus arms do more than just stick. They actually smell and taste. This contributes to a massive amount of information for the octopus’s brain to process, so the octopus depends on its eight arms for help.

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Everyone knows that an octopus has eight arms. And similar to our arms it uses them to grab things and move around. But that’s where the similarities end. Hundreds of suckers on each octopus arm give them abilities people can only dream about.

“The suckers are hands that also smell and taste,” said Rich Ross, senior biologist and octopus aquarist at the California Academy of Sciences.

Suckers are “very similar to our taste buds, from what little we know about them,” said University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, cephalopod biologist William Kier.

If these tasting, smelling suckers make you think of a human hand with a tongue and a nose stuck to it, that’s a good start to understanding just how differently octopuses are organized than humans. It all stems from the unique challenges an octopus faces as a result of having a flexible, soft body.

“This animal has no protection and is a wonderful meal because it’s all muscle,” said Kier.

So the octopus has adapted over time. It has about 500 million neurons (dogs have around 600 million), the cells that allow it to process and communicate information. And these neurons are distributed to make the most of its eight arms. An octopus’ central brain – located between its eyes – doesn’t control its every move. Instead, two thirds of the animal’s neurons are in its arms.
“It’s more efficient to put the nervous cells in the arm,” said neurobiologist Binyamin Hochner, of Hebrew University, in Jerusalem. “The arm is a brain of its own.”

This enables octopus arms to operate somewhat independently from the animal’s central brain. The central brain tells the arms in what direction and how fast to move, but the instructions on how to reach are embedded in each arm.

Octopuses have also evolved mechanisms that allow their muscles to move without the use of a skeleton. This same muscle arrangement enables elephant trunks and mammals’ tongues to unfurl.

“The arrangement of the muscle in your tongue is similar to the arrangement in the octopus arm,” said Kier.

In an octopus arm, muscles are arranged in different directions. When one octopus muscle contracts, it’s able to stretch out again because other muscles oriented in a different direction offer resistance – just as the bones in vertebrate bodies do. This skeleton of muscle, called a muscular hydrostat, is how an octopus gets its suckers to attach to different surfaces.

--- How many suction cups does an octopus have on each arm?

It depends on the species. Giant Pacific octopuses have up to 240 suckers on each arm.

--- Do octopuses have arms or tentacles?

Octopuses have arms, not tentacles. “The term ‘tentacle’ is used for lots of fleshy protuberances in invertebrates,” said Kier. “It just happens that the eight in octopuses are called arms.”

--- Can octopuses regrow a severed arm?

Yes!

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The octopus research group at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN81d...

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You're Not Hallucinating. That's Just Squid Skin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wtLr...

Watch These Frustrated Squirrels Go Nuts!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUjQt...

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Octopus - Argonauta (Paper Nautilus)

Rare argonaut octopus washes ashore

You just never know what you'll discover walking along the beach at night. For Tiphareth Aquarian, a stroll along Lanikai Beach in Hawaii on the evening of May 10 presented an encounter with an unusual creature. As many of us might do, she quickly took out her phone and captured a video.

"I saw this on Lanikai beach Wednesday night on the full moon," she wrote on Facebook. "I believe it's an Argonaut or Paper Nautilus? Has anyone seen one of these before? It had beached its self but I got it back in the water before it died."
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