Octopuses Have Specialized Grippers

Like creatures in science fiction movies, octopuses have many evolution-defying traits that are amazing. They are even startling in some ways. Those powerful tentacles are interesting in their own right, but new research on their suckers demonstrates the mirific work of the Master Engineer.

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They are intelligent, and can even be affectionate toward humans —

"Do you know why they have so many suckers, Cowboy Bob?"

There's one born every minute, according to a phrase falsely attributed to P.T. Barnum. (Logic lesson: humor based on the fallacy of ambiguity, two separate meanings for the word "sucker".) While we're at it and I'm not fully awake but writing this anyway:

How would you like to be able to tell if something is edible or even tasty simply by touching it? Well, octopuses have specialized cells that can do this and more. Further, these cells pass along information with each other as well as the big dude that wields them. Of course, Darwin's disciples wave it off with "stuff happens" and "it evolved" shlooping, but that does not make God any less real.

Sever an arm from an octopus, and like an underwater zombie it’ll keep groping its surroundings. Even without a brain, its suckers still detect and grab crabs in lab experiments. Now Harvard researchers have begun discovering what makes octopus suckers so smart.

The team led by molecular biologist Nicholas Bellono found special sensory cells on each sucker’s skin surface. One type of sensor houses mechanoreceptors with the same basic structure as those found in fruit fly feet. Another type of sensor turned out to offer taste-like senses that are quite unique to octopuses. Yes, the octopus can taste with its tentacles.

How does that grab you? To finish reading, reach out to "How Octopus Tentacles Find Crab Dinners".