What are they? Octopuses and their relatives, the cuttlefish and squids, form the class of modern cephalopods (coleoids). These are soft-bodied molluscan invertebrates like garden snails or sea hares (Aplysia). The modern cephalopods appeared in the sea at the same time as bony fish; more than 200 million years ago. The old cephalopods are virtually extinct — their only living representative is...

Total (T-Hg) and organic (O-Hg) mercury concentrations and tissue distribution were examined in 20 species of cephalopods (n=278) from the north eastern Atlantic waters, i.e. from the Bay of Biscay to the Faroe Islands. Concentrations of T-Hg in whole cephalopods showed elevated variations among species, i.e. from 40 to 3560ng g(-1) dwt, but a low variability within each species (mean CV%=39%)....

According to their main life history traits, organisms can be arranged in a continuum from fast (species with small body size, short lifespan and high fecundity) to slow (species with opposite characteristics). Life history determines the responses of organisms to natural and anthropogenic factors, as slow species are expected to be more sensitive than fast species to perturbations. Owing to th...

Cephalopods have the most advanced circulatory and nervous system among the mollusks. Recently, they have been included in the European directive which state that suffering and pain should be minimized in cephalopods used in experimentation. The knowledge about cephalopod welfare is still limited and several gaps are yet to be filled, especially in reference to pathogens, pathologies and immune...

Cephalopods, including octopuses, squids, and cuttlefishes, are exploited by both bottom trawl small-scale fisheries (SSF) in most of the Mediterranean areas. Bottom regard cephalopods as a valuable bycatch, whereas for SSF, they among main target species. Cephalopods account relatively small proportion total landings Mediterranean. However, from an economic point view, four cephalopods, Eledon...

Aqueous extracts of ink from four cephalopods, adult and young Sepiella inermis and Loligo duvaucelli were tested against Moloney murine leukaemia virus reverse transcriptase (MMLV RT). Ink from young cephalopods, S. intermis and L. duvaucelli showed strong inhibition of MMLV RT.

In nature, cephalopods employ unique dynamic camouflage mechanisms. Herein, we draw inspiration from self-assembled structures found in cephalopods to fabricate tunable biomimetic camouflage coatings. The reflectance of these coatings is dynamically modulated between the visible and infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum in situ. Our studies represent a crucial step towards reconfigur...