Employees of the Geophysical Union of America have long worked on a detailed analysis of early works, the theme of which was a feature of the structure and functioning of the nerve endings of octopus tentacles. Scientists combined the results of the analysis with their work and presented in the form of a scientific report at the Astrobiological Conference, which was held this summer in Seattle.

The essence of the report is that the suction cups located on the tentacles of the octopus have the ability to move independently, thus responding to information received from the environment. This is a unique phenomenon, indicating the specific architecture of the central nervous system of octopuses, compared with vertebrates.

The evolution of octopuses began after the animal kingdom was conditionally subdivided into vertebrate and invertebrate representatives (approximately 500 million years ago). In vertebrates, the nervous system is predominantly located in the brain and spinal cord. Its structure is created on the basis of the interaction of downward and upward links. As a result of this, the brain initially receives a signal of an incentive to action, and only then processes it, producing a specific action.

As for the octopuses, the brain has a different structure.They have completely no spinal column, and nerve cells are scattered throughout the body. Over time, some ganglia transformed into GM, preserving their own architecture in tentacles.

During the research, scientists gave octopuses a variety of objects (cubes, balls, cinder blocks) and covered animals in a maze. The behavior of the octopuses indicated the presence of an independent NS located in the tentacles. This gives the tentacles of animals the ability to make independent decisions.