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KOMPAS.com- Cephalopod which includes octopus, squid and cuttlefish are capable of truly fantastic behaviors. According to studies, squid and octopuses actually have it brain complex.
They can process information quickly to change shape, color, and even texture and blend in with their environment.
Cephalopods such as octopuses and squids can also communicate, show signs of spatial learning and use tools to solve problems. They are so smart that they can even get bored.
It’s also no secret that cephalopods it has the most complex brain of any invertebrate on the planet.
However, what is still mysterious is how these animals developed it.
Scientists have long wondered how squid and octopuses got this large and complex brain.
Read also: What does a giant squid carcass wash ashore in New Zealand?
Now a Harvard University lab studying the visual systems of these soft-bodied creatures believes it has found the answer to how cephalopod brain like squid and octopuses, they evolved this way.
Reported by physicist, On Friday (11/11/2022) researchers at the FAS Center for Systems Biology used an imaging technique to see neurons being produced in cephalopod embryos almost simultaneously real time.
Researchers can then trace those cells through neurodevelopment in the retina. What was seen was amazing.
The neural stem cells that the research team monitored apparently behaved much like how cells in vertebrates behave during the development of their nervous systems.
This suggests that vertebrates and cephalopods, such as squid and octopuses, while evolving independently of each other 500 million years ago, used similar mechanisms to enlarge their brains.
In this study of cephalopod brains, the researchers focused on conducting research on squid Doryteuthis pealeii, a kind of longfin squid. This squid is found mainly in the northwest Atlantic Ocean.
Read also: The carcass of a giant squid with eyes the size of a saucer has been found in South Africa
The researchers then use special tools and sophisticated microscopes that can take high-resolution images every ten minutes to hours to see how individual cells behave.
The process begins with how cells act, divide and this also basically explains the blueprint for the development of the nervous system.
“Our conclusion is surprising. Nervous system development in vertebrates has long been considered specific to that lineage. But observations in cephalopods suggest that both nervous systems use similar mechanisms to build large nervous systems,” said Kristen Koenig, senior author of the study.
The researchers also used fluorescent dyes to label the cells, so they could be mapped and tracked.
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This directed imaging technique allowed the team to look at stem cells called neural progenitor cells and how they are regulated.
The cells form a special type of structure called a pseudostratified epithelium.
Its main feature is that the cells are stretched so that they can be tightly packed.
The researchers also saw the core of these structures move up and down before and after they split.
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Squid illustrationThis movement is important to keep the network in order and continue growth.
This type of structure is universal in how vertebrate species developed their brains and eyes.
Historically, this is thought to be one of the reasons the nervous system of vertebrates can grow so large and complex.
Scientists have observed examples of this type of neural epithelium in other animals.
Read also: Cephalopod fossils reveal the early presence of octopuses and squid on Earth
But the squid tissue they saw in these examples is very similar to vertebrate tissue in size, organization, and the way the nuclei move.
Next, the researchers plan to see how the different types of cells in cephalopod brains arise.
“One of the great lessons from this work is how valuable it is to study the diversity of life. You can go back to basic ideas about self-development,” says Koenig.
The study of how squids and octopuses, which belong to these cephalopods, can have such complex brains has been published in the journal Current biology.
Read also: Researchers reveal mysterious cluster filled with squid embryos in Norway
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