The right touch: Octopuses' surface-sensing secrets decoded

[Binary_Bark]

Even without noses, octopuses are able to determine which food sources are good to eat and which have gone past their prime simply by touching them. The secret, says a new study, lies with surface microbiomes and some very sensitive suckers.

The study was carried out by a team working out of the lab of Nick Bellono, a Harvard biologist concerned with how organisms adapt to their environments on a molecular level. Previous research from the Bellono Lab revealed that octopuses – yes, that really is how you pluralize "octopus" – have chemical sensors in the suckers on their eight arms that let them effectively "taste by touching."

The right touch: Octopuses' surface-sensing secrets decoded

Even without noses, octopuses are able to determine which food sources are good to eat and which have gone past their prime simply by touching them. The secret, says a new study, lies with surface microbiomes and some very sensitive suckers.

newatlas.com