NEW YORK: Scientists have taken a close look at the octopus and have found that there is a lot more to this creature than meets the eye.
A team of researchers that included a group from UC Berkeley have sequenced the genes of the octopus and now feel that they have a much greater understanding of the weird genetics of this complex and brainy creature, according to an SFGate report.
What they found is that the nervous system of the octopus is totally different from anything in a human or really any other animal. They found this by analyzing the genome of the California two-spot octopus, which is commonly found along the California coast and is part of the cephalopod family, which includes squids and cuttlefish. The family is believed to be 500 million years old.
What researchers found that was so surprising is a “dramatic expansion” of a family of nervous system genes, resulting in a huge difference between the genome of an octopus and that of other invertebrates.
