The octopus’ visual system is amazing, consisting of 26,000 cells in its brain

WASHINGTON – Soft-bodied cephalopods, consisting of squid, octopus and cuttlefish, they have brain the largest of all invertebrates (animals without backbones). Two-thirds of the computing network at the center of his brain is known to be for sight only.

These marine creatures have excellent eyesight, even in the dark. An octopus’ skin contains the same pigment proteins as its eyes, allowing its dermis to “see” the details around it and mask it.

Researchers at the University of Oregon conducted the first study to comprehensively map an octopus’ visual system. An analysis of over 26,000 cells was required, which was collected during the dissection of two young California double-headed octopuses (Octopus bimaculoides).

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When the researchers sequenced the cephalopod cells, they found four main populations, each of which released a different chemical signal. Some release dopamine, others release acetylcholine, others release glutamine, and others signal with dopamine and glutamine.

This neurotransmitter is also seen in vertebrate brains, like ours, but there are several smaller groups of neurons in the cephalopod brains that express unique chemicals. For example, a ring of cells around the optic lobe has been found to produce octopamine, a neurotransmitter closely related to a hormone in our body called norepinephrine.

Similar to vertebrates, octopuses’ visual system is layered, but not in the same way as humans. The diversity of cell types and the way they are arranged in the cephalopod brain is fundamentally different.

“On a clear level, neurons don’t map to each other, they use different neurotransmitters. But maybe they do the same calculations, just in different ways,” says University of Oregon biologist Cris Niell.

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One of the biggest questions is how the visual system of octopuses (cephalopods) developed. Octopuses take years to develop a brain, but how does information from the retina help direct that growth?

In vertebrates, the photoreceptors in the retina are not directly connected to the brain. Instead, the octopus transmits messages to other neurons. But in octopuses (cephalopods), the photoreceptors are directly connected to the optic lobes of the brain.

“The atlas we present here provides a roadmap for such studies and, more generally, provides a way forward for solving the functional, evolutionary and evolutionary logic of the cephalopod visual system,” the University of Dell researchers wrote. ‘Oregon.

(Spider web)