Octopus Intelligence and Bioluminescent Fungi

Here’s a random topic: octopus intelligence and behavior

🐙 Octopus Intelligence & Consciousness

Octopuses can solve mazes, discriminate between visual cues, and learn to unscrew jars to access food. www.scientificamerican.com
Their neural architecture is strikingly different from vertebrates: they use many regulatory RNAs in gene control, which may have enabled more flexibility in brain development. www.shapeoflife.org
They often act in flexible, context-dependent ways rather than fixed stimulus–response behavior. www.genengnews.com

Some researchers argue that octopuses may have elements of phenomenal consciousness (i.e. having subjective experiences) — for example having perceptual richness, temporal continuity, and affective valence (positive/negative states). pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
The question of whether octopuses feel pain is debated. They satisfy several criteria often used to infer pain in animals: having a complex nervous system, showing protective motor responses, exhibiting avoidance learning, and reacting to noxious stimuli. en.wikipedia.org
Because of this, many argue that we should treat them with moral consideration, especially in research and fisheries. en.wikipedia.org

The mimic octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus) can impersonate many different marine animals (e.g. lionfish, sea snakes, jellyfish) by changing body shape, coloration, and behavior to fool predators or prey. en.wikipedia.org
The glowing sucker octopus (Stauroteuthis syrtensis) lives in deep-sea environments and exhibits bioluminescence: it has modified suckers (photophores) that emit light. en.wikipedia.org

An octopus’s arms have extensive local neural networks: roughly three-fifths of its neurons are located in its arms rather than the central brain. en.wikipedia.org
Because of this, the arms can perform many reflexive or locally controlled tasks without constant input from the central brain. www.wired.com
Recent robotics and control theory research is inspired by this. For example, “bend propagation” in octopus arms (a wave of curvature traveling along an arm) is studied to model efficient control of flexible appendages. arxiv.org
More advanced models integrate hierarchical decision-making for multiple arms, combining high-level planning (e.g. foraging strategies) with low-level motor control. arxiv.org

Paul was a common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) famous during the 2010 FIFA World Cup for “predicting” match outcomes: keepers would present two boxes with food, each marked with a team’s flag, and whichever box he opened first was taken as his prediction. en.wikipedia.org
Though many regarded his success as luck, he became a media sensation and symbol of octopus intelligence/popular mystique. en.wikipedia.org