Meeting Abstract
P3.112 Wednesday, Jan. 6 Evidence for inter-sucker coordination in the Giant Pacific Octopus Enteroctopus dofleini. HADJISOLOMOU, Stavros P*; GRASSO, Frank W; BioMimetic and Cognitive Robotics Lab., Brooklyn College, CUNY, Brooklyn NY; Program in Ecology, Evolution and Biology, The Graduate Center, CUNY, New York NY stavros.hadjisolomou@gmail.com
In contrast to the fixed-link appendages of arthropods and vertebrates those of cephalopods are soft, continuous biomechanical systems capable of generating movements with a virtually infinite number of degrees of freedom. In octopuses, that are capable of manipulating relatively small objects, fine movements of objects are accomplished through the coordinated action of the arms and the suckers. We hypothesized that motions of adjacent suckers would show a greater degree of coordination during goal-directed arm movements than during non goal-directed movements. We filmed two Giant Pacific Octopuses (Enterectopus dofleini) using their arms and suckers on a glass tank wall so that suckers on each of the eight arms were visible. We used (10 Hz) digital image analysis to track the motion of suckers while the octopuses used their arms for different tasks. We deducted arm movements from sucker movements and calculated the arm-independent movements of individual suckers. We computed the cross-correlations between the movements of each pair of 20-30 in each video sequence. We found significant correlations and anti-correlations (p<0.01) that demonstrating neighborhoods of coordinated activity at intervals along the arm. These patterns of correlated sucker activity differed with the task. These results are consistent with earlier results in O. bimaculoides: sucker motions are coordinated with arm movements and vary with behavioral context. We suggest that these results provide functional evidence for neural connectivity and information sharing between suckers within an arm and coordinated, independent use of them is recruited in the service of specific goal-directed arm movements.
