What makes up a squids nervous system

In: P. MIll ed. In: D. Gilbert, H. Adelman and J. Arnold eds : Squid as Experimental Animals. Plenum Press, New York, pp. A 1—5. B 93— Sachse, M. Bullock, T. Ongoing compound field potentials from octopus brain are labile and vertebrate-like.

Trends Neurosci. Brain Behav. Brain Res. Freeman, San Francisco and London. Bundgaard, M. Colmers, W. Cornwell, C. Dilly, P. Dubas, F. Fiorito, G. Science — Florey, E. Gilly, W. Hopkins, B. Gillette, R.

In: C. Prosser ed. Gleadall, I. Ohtsu, K. Griffin, L. Hanlon, R. Gilbert, W. Kier, W. In: E. Trueman and M. Clarke eds : The Mollusca, Vol. Smith The morphology and mechanics of Octopus sucker. Kime, D. Maddock, L. Mangold, K. Marquis, F. Cephalopoda, Octopoda , eine histologische Analyse. Basel 23— Martin, R. While it might have started out as just a great fundamental system to understand nervous system physiology, it has really branched out, in part because of their complex behaviors, and also because they have very interesting sensory capabilities.

Cephalopods do have a small brain, but their nervous system is not like a central nervous system. The neurons are clustered all over the place, kind of in a network.

Those clusters are called ganglia. And from there, they have some independent control of a segment of the body. There are clusters of neurons located out in the arms that are responsible for a lot of the really interesting behaviors and motor control. We know, with humans, ecstasy promotes what we call pro-social behaviors. Their question was to ask whether or not the same sort of mechanism happens in cephalopods. And that turns out to be the case. They used a species of octopus that is mostly solitary.

When they were treated with ecstasy , they started being less interested in toys and more interested in each other. They were more gregarious. What it actually showed us was that they have a very similar system underlied by serotonin, which is exactly why humans also like MDMA. For media inquiries , please contact media northeastern. Stress-related illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder occur twice as frequently in women as they do in men, says Northeastern researcher Rebecca Shansky.

Octopuses live naturally in dens on the seafloor, an environment that is fairly easy to recreate in an aquarium, but most squids live naturally in the open ocean and need a great deal of space to move around. Furthermore, since octopuses are used to crawling on the ground and manipulating shells and rocks, it's easy to give them mazes and puzzles to solve. A dissection allows you to take a very close look at the nervous system of a squid, asking and answering questions about how it might work.

Let's start with the brain, which comes in three parts: two optic lobes and a central ganglion. If you very carefully pull the eyes out of their sockets, you'll see the optic lobes, one behind each eye. They are yellowish white, soft and fleshy. Between them in the middle of the head, and somewhat more difficult to identify, is the central ganglion, a collection of very soft nerve tissue that actually surrounds the esophagus--every bite the squid takes goes through its brain!

As you cut into the head of a Humboldt squid, you'll notice that the brain is protected by a tough braincase that looks like it's made of cartilage.

It's not proper cartilage like humans have, but it's a similar protein. When scientists use sonar to detect squid in the water, this braincase is one of the major parts of the body that reflects the sound. Don't forget to look at the eyes themselves. On the side facing out, you can see the clear lens, which works just like the lens in our eyes, to focus light. It's quite hard, though it is only made of protein and you can dig into it with a fingernail. If the lens is in very good condition, you can actually place it over text and use it as a magnifier.

On the eyeball all around the lens, you can see a reflective mirror-like coating. That's part of the squid's camouflage. Its eyes are very large and easy to see, so it tries to hide them from predators by reflecting light away from them.

But it also needs some light to see, so it can't reflect all the light. Now look at the back of the eye after you've pulled it out of the eye socket. The yellowish white strands running along the back of the eye are optic nerves, bringing visual information back to the optic lobe. One thing that makes the cephalopod eye so remarkable is the position of these nerves.