Mysterious brain waves found in octopuses: they were not found in other animals

The first-of-its-kind recordings of octopus brains show that the most famous order of cephalopods

mollusks, like humans, have brainwaves. They were recorded in freely moving octopuses. Electrodes were implanted into the animals' brains and connected to data recorders under the skin. The clams were recorded for 12 hours while they slept, groomed themselves, and explored the aquarium.

The recorded brain wave patterns surprised the scientists.First, they were very similar to those previously found in the human hippocampus. This hints at convergent neurological evolution, where two separate animals develop the same trait independently of each other. Recall that the last common ancestor of humans and octopuses was a flatworm that lived on the seabed about 750 million years ago and had only a rudimentary brain. Second, the researchers discovered brain waves that are known to control sleep-wake cycles in other animals.

In addition, scientists have recorded long-termand slow brain waves, they were repeated only twice per second. They have not been observed in other species before. Biologists are not sure what these mysterious brain waves are used for: more recordings will be needed to draw firm conclusions. They must be done while the octopuses complete their assigned tasks. The scientists described their findings in an article and published them in the journal Cell.

Octopuses and their related cephalopodsrelatives—squid and cuttlefish—have fascinated biologists since the 3rd century AD, when the Roman writer and naturalist Claidius Aelianus noted their “visible” characteristics of “mischief and cunning.”

Cephalopods have long been studied for their intelligence.Animals have remarkable memory and are excellent at camouflage; show curiosity about what surrounds them. Observations have also shown how they use various tools to solve problems, in addition, it is believed that octopuses dream.

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