May Science on Tap with Kelly Voss

Octopuses have a fascinating and important place in the marine ecosystem because they connect many different organisms in the food web. They are hunted by fish, marine mammals, and even other octopuses, so they have had to evolve a variety of interesting, well-known strategies they use to live another day. They can effectively hide from, startle, and evade a would-be predator. As a last resort, if they’re attacked, they also have the ability to completely regenerate lost arms. However, almost nothing is known about their ability to retaliate, which means defending themselves when they are cornered by a predator. We also don't know how an octopus’ behaviors may change to compensate after it loses one of its eight arms. Which arms are they using? Which arms are they losing? In this talk, I will share what I have been doing to investigate the causes and impacts of arm loss in a variety of octopus species.