Squids have more complex brains than rats We basically adapted the ideas and techniques from mouse brain research with lots of modifications to make the first high-res squid brain imaging work,” said Chung. “Advanced molecular tools and imaging techniques have been largely developed for the vertebrate model animals. However, instead of using classic histology - which looks at the microscopic anatomy of tissue section by section and makes “very little and slow progress” on such large and numerically complex brains - Chung and team turned to MRI. Setting out to map the neural connections that drive these complex brains, the research team focused on the reef squid Sepioteuthis lessoniana. So it is certainly not an ‘instinct reflection,’ but a very complex cognition process in their brain.” “Squid can say ‘I love you’ to his favorite lady but using a different way. Males can display a ‘skin powered’ alphabet and have physical fights to compete for the mate.” “One very famous case is about their visual communication during mating competition. “These creatures are vision-dominant predators, and almost all coastal species are masters in doing dynamic coloration and camouflage based on direct control of the chromatophore cells all over the skin,” said Chung. In fact, its complexity was similar to that of a dog’s brain. What they found was a brain more complex than that of a rat or a mouse. “Despite intense interest and research progress concerning cephalopods’ complex behavioral and cognitive abilities, the large sized complex cephalopod nervous systems, in particular, are an ‘elephant in the room’ when it comes to knowledge gaps, with most work on their neuroarchitecture and function dating back over 50 years ago,” Wen-Sung Chung told Medical News Today.Ĭhung, of the Queensland Brain Institute, and team were particularly interested in the neural ability of these creatures to change color not only for camouflage, but also to communicate. The results of their study now appear in the journal iScience.

Now, researchers at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, have turned to modern technology to complete the first MRI-based map of the brain of the squid in 50 years. This complex behavior has drawn intense interest by researchers over the years. Though colorblind, they are also able to instantly change colors, using different colors on their upper and lower bodies to blend into different backgrounds and attract potential mates. They are actually able to count, solve problems, recognize patterns, and communicate through a number of signals. There is more to squids - which belong to the cephalopod family, with octopi and cuttlefish - than meets the eye. Share on Pinterest New research has found that squid brains are more complex than scientists once believed.

Are squids cephalopods