Meeting Abstract

P2.117  Tuesday, Jan. 5  The evolution of flexible behavioral repertoires in cephalopod molluscs BASIL, Jennifer*; CROOK, Robyn; GRASSO, Frank; Department of Biology, Brooklyn College, CUNY, Brooklyn NY; Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology, University of Texas Medical School, Houston, TX; BioMimetic and Cognitive Robotics Laboratory, Brooklyn College, CUNY, Brooklyn NY fwgrasso@gmail.com

Cephalopods are a large and ancient group of marine animals with a complex brain organization that supports a diversity of sophisticated and adaptive behaviors. Forms extant today are equipped with brains, sensors, and effectors that allow them not to just exist beside modern vertebrates as predators and prey; they also compete with marine vertebrates at every scale — from small crustaceans to sperm whales. We discuss the evolution of the cephalopod nervous system, their learning capabilities, and their complex behavior. We also review recent evidence of learning and memory in chambered nautilus, considered to be plesiomorphic among cephalopods. While competition with bony fishes has left a deep impression on the brains and behavior of modern cephalopods, the original re-organization of their complex brains from their molluscan ancestors may have been forged in ancient seas, millions of years before the advent of bony fishes.