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https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1121799
INTRO: This is a touching boy-meets-girl story about the octopus.
A new study by Harvard biologists reveals how octopuses feel their way to potential mates with a “taste by touch” sensory system and even can couple at arm’s length without actually seeing each other. In a study featured on the cover of Science, the researchers deciphered how one male appendage serves as a multipurpose organ for seeking, sensing, and seeding—and even continues to respond to female sex hormones after being severed from the body.
“The specialized arm for mating had been documented long ago, but it wasn't known that it’s also a sensory organ,” said Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology Nicholas Bellono, senior author of the new paper. “This is the mechanism by which the octopuses recognize their mates and facilitate fertilization.”
In the male cephalopods, one of the eight arms known as the hectocotylus is devoted to reproduction. In mating, it snakes its way to the female mantle (a cavity in the main body containing the vital organs), finds the oviduct, and deposits a seed-containing packet called a “spermatophore.” The hectocotylus also contains a special groove for passing the sperm packet from the testes in the male mantle to the tip of the extremity.
The role of the hectocotylus has long been known to biologists and the appendage was even mentioned by Aristotle. But little was known about the arm’s sensory capabilities—until now... (MORE - details)
INTRO: This is a touching boy-meets-girl story about the octopus.
A new study by Harvard biologists reveals how octopuses feel their way to potential mates with a “taste by touch” sensory system and even can couple at arm’s length without actually seeing each other. In a study featured on the cover of Science, the researchers deciphered how one male appendage serves as a multipurpose organ for seeking, sensing, and seeding—and even continues to respond to female sex hormones after being severed from the body.
“The specialized arm for mating had been documented long ago, but it wasn't known that it’s also a sensory organ,” said Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology Nicholas Bellono, senior author of the new paper. “This is the mechanism by which the octopuses recognize their mates and facilitate fertilization.”
In the male cephalopods, one of the eight arms known as the hectocotylus is devoted to reproduction. In mating, it snakes its way to the female mantle (a cavity in the main body containing the vital organs), finds the oviduct, and deposits a seed-containing packet called a “spermatophore.” The hectocotylus also contains a special groove for passing the sperm packet from the testes in the male mantle to the tip of the extremity.
The role of the hectocotylus has long been known to biologists and the appendage was even mentioned by Aristotle. But little was known about the arm’s sensory capabilities—until now... (MORE - details)