The octopus visual system is truly unique. Yes, this octopus is an animal that has a super advanced vision system. Octopuses have the ability to change their body color.
It aims to adapt to the surrounding environment. Interestingly, octopuses have only one photoreceptor. That is, this animal sees its surroundings only in black and white.
Read also: Secret intelligence of octopus and other cephalopod species revealed!
Amazing Octopus vision system, very good even in the dark
The octopus is one of the cephalopod marine animals of the class. Cephalopods are soft-bodied animals. Consisting of octopus, squid and cuttlefish which have the largest brains of all invertebrates or invertebrates.
Octopuses have more advanced eyesight than other marine animals. These marine creatures use sight to distinguish the shape, size and orientation of objects, brightness and polarized light.
The structure of the octopus eye consists of the lens, the pupil and the retina. The octopus pupil shape is a rectangle with horizontal direction. The amount of light that enters is regulated by reducing or increasing the length or width of the pupil.
Octopuses have excellent eyesight, even in the dark. Octopus skin contains the same protein as its eye pigment. Thus, allowing the dermis to “see” the details surrounding it and mask it.
Read also: Blue Ring Octopus viral on social media, deadly animal!
The research is the first of University of Oregon researchers to comprehensively map this octopus’ vision system. It took the analysis of over 26,000 cells, which they collected during the dissection of 2 California double-headed octopuses or Octopus bimaculoides.
When the researchers sequenced the cephalopod cells, they found 4 main populations, each of which releases different chemical signals. Some release dopamine, others release acetylcholine, and others release glutamine.
Meanwhile others report with dopamine and glutamine. This neurotransfer is also observed in the vertebrate brain, as well as in ours.
However, there are a number of small clusters of neurons in the cephalopod brains. The group expresses a unique chemical.
For example, a ring of cells around the optic lobe has been found to produce octopamine. Octopamine is a neurotransmitter closely related to our body’s hormone called norepinephrine.
Read also: Unique facts about Octopus
Octopus visual system
Similar to vertebrates, the octopus’ visual system is layered. However, the way it works is not the same as in humans. The diversity of cell types and the way they are arranged in cephalopod brains are fundamentally different.
Neurons don’t map to each other on a clear level. Because they use different neurotransmitters. However, they probably do the same calculations, just in a different way.
So, the bigger question is how did the visual system develop in this octopus or cephalopod? This marine animal has spent years developing a large brain.
But how can information from the retina help direct that growth? In vertebrates, the photoreceptors on the retina are not directly connected to the brain. Instead, the octopus transmits messages to other neurons.
However, in octopuses, photoreceptors are connected directly to the optic lobes of the brain. More broadly, researchers at the University of Oregon provide a roadmap for studies like the one above. The goal is to solve the functional, evolutionary and even evolutionary logic of the octopus visual system. (R10 / HR-Online)
