Natures wonders: octopuses taste with their suckers (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, October 30, 2020, 00:32 (1272 days ago) @ David Turell

A new study develops the finding:

https://cosmosmagazine.com/nature/animals/taste-by-touch-is-all-in-the-suckers/?utm_sou...

"In a paper published in the journal Cell, they describe how a novel family of sensors in the first layer of cells inside the suction cups has adapted to react and detect molecules that don’t dissolve well in water.

"The researchers suggest that the sensors, called chemotactile receptors, use these molecules to help the animal figure out what it’s touching and whether that object is prey.

“'We think because the molecules do not solubilise well, they could, for instance, be found on the surface of octopuses’ prey and [whatever the animals touch],” says senior author Nicholas Bellono.

“'So, when the octopus touches a rock versus a crab, now its arm knows, ‘OK, I’m touching a crab [because] I know there’s not only touch but there’s also this sort of taste’.”

***

"They discovered that the sucker did indeed include discrete populations of sensory cells.

"But how do chemical signals received via those suckers work together with other physical stimuli to decide whether an octopus grabs what it touches?

"While there’s much more to learn, the researchers say, their study shows that distinct chemotactile receptors form discrete ion channel complexes that detect specific signals and send them on to the nervous system.

"Bellono suggests that this could serve as a signal filtering system suited to the octopus’ uniquely distributed nervous system.

“'We also showed that separate and distinct chemo- and mechanosensory cells express specific receptors and exhibit discrete electrical activities to encode chemical and touch information, respectively,” he says.

“'Our results demonstrate that the peripherally distributed octopus nervous system exhibits exceptional signal filtering properties that are mediated by highly specialised sensory receptors.'”

Comment: The octopus has a ganglion type brain in each arm. And their mischievous activities such as climbing out of their tanks and playing tricks is well known.