Distance chemoreception and the detection of conspecifics in Octopus bimaculoides

Walderon, Matthew D.; Nolt, Kevin J.; Haas, Robert E.; Prosser, Krista N.; Holm, Johanna B.; Nagle, Gregg T.; Boal, Jean Geary

doi:10.1093/mollus/eyr009

Cited by 36 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…contrasts with field observations of A. aculeatus, which recognised the sex of conspecifics from a distance (Huffard et al, 2008), and laboratory experiments with O. bimaculoides, which discriminate conspecific sex based on odour cues (Walderon et al, 2011). Yet even in A. aculeatus, male-male mating attempts did occur in low frequencies and in all cases led to physical aggression (Huffard et al, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Nocturnal mating behaviour and dynamic male investment of copulation time in the southern blue-ringed octopus, Hapalochlaena maculosa (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae)

Morse

Zenger

McCormick

et al. 2015

Behav

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The southern blue-ringed octopus, Hapalochlaena maculosa (Hoyle, 1883) is a nocturnal species that exhibits a mating system in which females hold sperm from multiple males over a one to two month breeding window before laying a single egg clutch. Contrary to most studied animal mating systems where anisogamy exists, gamete package production is limited for both males and females of this species (~50 spermatophores/eggs). This presents an animal model for studying aspects of sperm competition and dynamic mate choice behaviours. The present study reports on the mating behaviour of H. maculosa observed under laboratory conditions using infrared closed-circuit television video footage. Rates of male copulation attempts increased with male size, while female receptivity to mating attempts increased with female size, resulting in larger animals of both sexes gaining more copulations and spending more time per day in copulation. There was some evidence of female preference of larger males, but no male preference of females based on measured morphological traits. Both sexes terminated copulations in equal frequencies but male-terminated copulations were significantly shorter in duration. Males were more likely to terminate copulation early with females they had previously mated with, however were less likely to do so if the female had recently mated with a different male. Among male-terminated copulations, males mated for longer with females that had previously mated with other males in the trial. Male-male mounts were as common as male-female mounts, suggesting that male H. maculosa are not able to discriminate the sex of conspecifics. These findings suggest male strategic allocation of spermatophores based female mating history is an important factor influencing mating behaviours of this species.ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: mate choice -Octopus -operational sex ratio -sperm competition.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 59%

Nocturnal mating behaviour and dynamic male investment of copulation time in the southern blue-ringed octopus, Hapalochlaena maculosa (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae)

Morse

Zenger

McCormick

et al. 2015

Behav

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“…These structures represent the olfactory organs as recognized by von Kölliker (1844) and Watkinson (1909) . While several functional studies have been conducted on decapods, demonstrating their role in mate choice of squid and cuttlefish and the improvement of predation on crabs by cuttlefish ( Boyle, 1983 , 1986 ; Chase and Wells, 1986 ; Lee, 1992 ; Lucero et al, 1992 , 1995 , 2000 ; Budelmann et al, 1997 ; Boal and Golden, 1999 ; Piper and Lucero, 1999 ; Mobley et al, 2007 , 2008a , b ; Villanueva and Norman, 2008 ), very little is known about octopods ( Walderon et al, 2011 ). The Octopus vulgaris olfactory organ has the typical morphology of a chemoreceptor structure ( Woodhams and Messenger, 1974 ; Wildenburg, 1995 , 1997 ) resulting in a ciliated epithelium lying in a pair of pits, one on each side of the head, as in other cephalopods and it has been considered the homologue of Nautilus rhinophore, a specialized short hollow tentacle lodged below the eye ( Young, 1965 ; Basil et al, 2000 ; Ruth et al, 2002 ; Jereb and Roper, 2005 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless a blinded octopus will move towards a scent it perceives as a food source ( Chase and Wells, 1986 ). Recently Walderon et al (2011) demonstrated that octopuses respond to chemical signals from conspecifics and detect a wide range of odors as food or non-food (seaweed). However as most coleoids are nocturnal or live at depths where little light is present, the ability to track prey, partner and predator by scent is crucial to their success ( Joll, 1977 ; Budelmann, 1996 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Olfactory organ ofOctopus vulgaris: morphology, plasticity, turnover and sensory characterization

2016

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The cephalopod olfactory organ was described for the first time in 1844 by von Kölliker, who was attracted to the pair of small pits of ciliated cells on each side of the head, below the eyes close to the mantle edge, in both octopuses and squids. Several functional studies have been conducted on decapods but very little is known about octopods. The morphology of the octopus olfactory system has been studied, but only to a limited extent on post-hatching specimens, and the only paper on adult octopus gives a minimal description of the olfactory organ. Here, we describe the detailed morphology of young male and female Octopus vulgaris olfactory epithelium, and using a combination of classical morphology and 3D reconstruction techniques, we propose a new classification for O. vulgaris olfactory sensory neurons. Furthermore, using specific markers such as olfactory marker protein (OMP) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) we have been able to identify and differentially localize both mature olfactory sensory neurons and olfactory sensory neurons involved in epithelium turnover. Taken together, our data suggest that the O. vulgaris olfactory organ is extremely plastic, capable of changing its shape and also proliferating its cells in older specimens.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been reported that chemosensory cues are important in decision-making in octopuses [22,[65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73]. Training experiments for testing chemical discrimination have been done in octopus to demonstrate its ability to distinguish between objects based on their chemical differences using their arm suckers and described this ability as taste by touch [24,25], while odour discrimination was tested to assess perceptions of water-born chemical stimuli at distance [72]. Furthermore, it has been highlighted that the octopus's olfactory organ is able to change shape, from relaxed to erect to perceive water-soluble compounds such as salts, sugars, amino acids, amines, peptides, proteins, and functionalised hydrocarbons, which allows the animal to orient itself to detect the spatial gradient of these chemical cues, helping in navigation and triggering spatial memories [23,57,74,75].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensorial Hierarchy in Octopus vulgaris’s Food Choice: Chemical vs. Visual

Maselli

Al-Soudy

Buglione

et al. 2020

Animals

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Octopus vulgaris possesses highly sophisticated sense organs, processed by the nervous system to generate appropriate behaviours such as finding food, avoiding predators, identifying conspecifics, and locating suitable habitat. Octopus uses multiple sensory modalities during the searching and selection of food, in particular, the chemosensory and visual cues. Here, we examined food choice in O. vulgaris in two ways: (1) We tested octopus’s food preference among three different kinds of food, and established anchovy as the preferred choice (66.67%, Friedman test p < 0.05); (2) We exposed octopus to a set of five behavioural experiments in order to establish the sensorial hierarchy in food choice, and to evaluate the performance based on the visual and chemical cues, alone or together. Our data show that O. vulgaris integrates sensory information from chemical and visual cues during food choice. Nevertheless, food choice resulted in being more dependent on chemical cues than visual ones (88.9%, Friedman test p < 0.05), with a consistent decrease of the time spent identifying the preferred food. These results define the role played by the senses with a sensorial hierarchy in food choice, opening new perspectives on the O. vulgaris’ predation strategies in the wild, which until today were considered to rely mainly on visual cues.

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Distance chemoreception and the detection of conspecifics in Octopus bimaculoides

Cited by 36 publications

References 12 publications

Nocturnal mating behaviour and dynamic male investment of copulation time in the southern blue-ringed octopus, Hapalochlaena maculosa (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae)

Nocturnal mating behaviour and dynamic male investment of copulation time in the southern blue-ringed octopus, Hapalochlaena maculosa (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae)

Olfactory organ ofOctopus vulgaris: morphology, plasticity, turnover and sensory characterization

Sensorial Hierarchy in Octopus vulgaris’s Food Choice: Chemical vs. Visual

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