FAQ
A contribution of The Cephalopod Page
| Question: |
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James, For several hours after I thought my octopus was dead (pretty stiff, hadn't moved in HOURS, and was no longer visibly pumping water) he would still change colour, very slowly - though not completely. Was he not dead? I didn't flush him until he stopped changing colour at all. Is this a photochemical reaction or was he still alive? |
| Answer: |
| Yes, he was dead. However, some of his tissues were still alive. These animals have brains, but aren't set up like us. This makes sense as they are an entirely different phylum! We have one big brain and a few nerves to our various parts. They have 2/3 of their nerves in their body, NOT in their brains. Each sucker on an octopus arm has a little ganglia! A lost arm will continue to crawl and change colours. Similarly, the chromatophores (not photoreactive - see Alison King's article on my page) continue to fire for a while. Recently I was dissecting the body of a cuttlefish that had been decapitated 6 hours previously. There were still waves of colours flashing on the mantel skin of the animal. Whoaaa! Not fun.
Dr. James Wood |