LIGHT PRODUCTION IN CEPHALOPODS, I

Do cephalopods communicate using polarized light reflections from their skin?

Cephalopods (squid, cuttlefish and octopus) are probably best known for their ability to change color and pattern for camouflage and communication. This is made possible by their complex skin, which contains pigmented chromatophore organs and structural light reflectors (iridophores and leucophores). Iridophores create colorful and linearly polarized reflective patterns. Equally interesting, th...

Phospholipids in Mediterranean cephalopods.

Polar lipids of the cephalopods Eledone moschata, Sepia officinalis and Todarodes sagittatus mantle, represent 50.5%, 66.1% and 74.2% of wet tissue respectively. On the other hand the polar lipids of these three species of cephalopods constitute of 80.8%, 94.8% and 93.7% of phospholipids, respectively. The main phospholipids identified were phosphatidylcholine (52.2, 51.3 and 58.4% of total pho...

Editorial: Vision in Cephalopods

Dynamic Skin Patterns in Cephalopods

Cephalopods are unrivaled in the natural world in their ability to alter their visual appearance. These mollusks have evolved a complex system of dermal units under neural, hormonal, and muscular control to produce an astonishing variety of body patterns. With parallels to the pixels on a television screen, cephalopod chromatophores can be coordinated to produce dramatic, dynamic, and rhythmic ...

Brain and Behavior in Cephalopods

from the point of view of "molecular biology"-the interactions of nucleic acid structure, protein structure and enzyme action in bringing about cell infection and virus replication. Enough is included on protein and nucleic acid chemistry, and on the biosynthesis of these substances in non-viral systems, to make the train of argument intelligible to the reader who has a good basis in science bu...