montereybayaquarium: “ Cephalopods are superlative and sneaky assassins, using countless tricks to catch unsuspecting critters. Sign up for our texting program when you’re here to catch these hunters in action in our Tentacles exhibit. Text the word...
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montereybayaquarium: “ Cephalopods are superlative and sneaky assassins, using countless tricks to catch unsuspecting critters. Sign up for our texting program when you’re here to catch these hunters in action in our Tentacles exhibit. Text the word...
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montereybayaquarium: “ Cephalopods are superlative and sneaky assassins, using countless tricks to catch unsuspecting critters. Sign up for our texting program when you’re here to catch these hunters in action in our Tentacles exhibit. Text the word...
Zoom Info
montereybayaquarium: “ Cephalopods are superlative and sneaky assassins, using countless tricks to catch unsuspecting critters. Sign up for our texting program when you’re here to catch these hunters in action in our Tentacles exhibit. Text the word...
Zoom Info

montereybayaquarium:

Cephalopods are superlative and sneaky assassins, using countless tricks to catch unsuspecting critters.

Sign up for our texting program when you’re here to catch these hunters in action in our Tentacles exhibit. Text the word “experience” to 56512 to find out when our exhibits are being fed!

(via nevertoomanyspiders)

Source: montereybayaquarium

How octopuses distinguish colors (or do they?)

0ct0pus:

The question of how octopuses can match their surroundings while not being able to see colours is one hell of a puzzle. Christopher Stubbs may finally have found the answer: chromatic aberration.

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Maybe octopuses do see colour – not from light hitting special retinal “photoreceptors” but thanks to chromatic aberration, where different colours of light focus at different distances behind a lens.

Eyes of cephalopods are quite unlike anything seen on land: U- and W-shaped pupils backed by a lens that moves back and forth, like a camera, rather than fattening or thinning like ours. But they also have only one photoreceptor, unlike our red, green and blue ones.

Stubbs idea is the following: by adjusting the focal point of their eyes, like a photographer adjusts a lens, cephalopods might be able to detect different wavelengths – or colours – of light. This is called chromatic aberration.

image

To test his idea, Stubbs created a computer model of how the animals’ eyes work and see if chromatic aberration was possible.

He found not only could a shifting lens do the trick, but the cephalopods’ quirky pupils only served to maximise the effect. As Stubbs says, these creatures might exploit a ubiquitous source of image degradation in animal eyes, turning a bug into a feature.

The unusual pupils of cephalopods (from the top, a cuttlefish, squid and octopus) allow light into the eye from many directions, which spreads out the colors and [certainly] allows the creatures to determine color, even though they are technically colorblind.

As the lens moved forwards and backwards, the different wavelengths focusing on the retina at different times built up a colour picture.

It is not a proof, but the idea is definitely worth investigating !

Text from this article. For more in-depth information, I suggest weird pupils let octopuses see their colorful gardens. 

octopusthingz: “ #DidYouKnow - The narrower the pupil in relation to the horizon, the greater accuracy of depth perception in peripheral vision? Pair that with the fact that the octopuses optical nerve fibers are behind retina and you get absolutely...
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octopusthingz:

#DidYouKnow - The narrower the pupil in relation to the horizon, the greater accuracy of depth perception in peripheral vision? Pair that with the fact that the octopuses optical nerve fibers are behind retina and you get absolutely no blind spot which means an octopus can see everything that is going on in their environment. Pretty cool huh nation?! 📸: Gustavo Maqueda

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0ct0pus: “ Octopus suckers (1) An octopus has usually a double row of circular suckers, which are strong muscular structures. When pressed against a surface, they create low pressure in the suction cup that provides grip. Squid suckers (2-3) Squid...
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0ct0pus: “ Octopus suckers (1) An octopus has usually a double row of circular suckers, which are strong muscular structures. When pressed against a surface, they create low pressure in the suction cup that provides grip. Squid suckers (2-3) Squid...
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0ct0pus: “ Octopus suckers (1) An octopus has usually a double row of circular suckers, which are strong muscular structures. When pressed against a surface, they create low pressure in the suction cup that provides grip. Squid suckers (2-3) Squid...
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0ct0pus:

Octopus suckers (1)

An octopus has usually a double row of circular suckers, which are strong muscular structures. When pressed against a surface, they create low pressure in the suction cup that provides grip.

Squid suckers (2-3)

Squid suckers have an inner ring of hooks and teeth, which are both stretchy and strong. They help them hang onto their prey by perforating the skin. The third picture shows for example the hooks at the end of a colossal squid’s tentacle.