Natures wonders: Octopus skin senses light (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, May 27, 2015, 13:26 (3466 days ago) @ David Turell

Especially blue, which makes perfect sense:-http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/octopus-skin-senses-light-no-eyes-or-brain-needed/?WT.mc_id=SA_EVO_20150525- "But new research reveals that, for one octopus species at least, the skin itself can sense light and react, with no input from the eyes or brain.-"Researchers from the University of California Santa Barbara worked with skin removed from the California two-spot octopus. Not only did the skin respond to bright light, but the scientists found that the skin possesses the same family of light-sensitive proteins, called opsins, typically found in its eyes—which implies that, in the course of evolutionary history, the same molecular mechanism that the eyes employ for light detection got co-opted for use in the skin. The study is in the Journal of Experimental Biology. [M. Desmond Ramirez and Todd H. Oakley, Eye-independent, light-activated chromatophore expansion (LACE) and expression of phototransduction genes in the skin of Octopus bimaculoides]-"Octopus integument was quickest to respond to blue light—which is the color best suited to travel far in water."