Mapping The Squid’s Brain To Understand Its Ability To Quickly Camouflage Itself

Cephalopods sometimes are called the chameleons of the sea. They have the ability to camouflage themselves quickly when threatened or disturbed. They have surprisingly complex brains, with some of them having over 500 million neurons, which is significantly greater compared to the 200 million for a rat, and 20,000 for an average mollusk.

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Some examples of complex cephalopod behaviour include the ability to camouflage themselves despite being colourblind, count, recognise patterns, problem solve and communicate using a variety of signals.

One example of a cephalopod is the squid.

In order to understand better how it can camouflage itself instantaneously, researchers Dr. Wen-Sung Chung and Professor Justin Marshall, from UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute, mapped the squid brain using MRI technology.

“This the first time modern technology has been used to explore the brain of this amazing animal, and we proposed 145 new connections and pathways, more than 60 per cent of which are linked to the vision and motor systems,” Dr Chung said.

More details regarding this study over at ScienceDaily.

(Image Credit: Nick Hobgood/ Wikimedia Commons)

Source: neatorama

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