Hormonal Inhibition of Feeding and Death in Octopus: Control by Optic Gland Secretion

@article{Wodinsky1977HormonalIO,
  title={Hormonal Inhibition of Feeding and Death in Octopus: Control by Optic Gland Secretion},
  author={Jerome Wodinsky},
  journal={Science},
  year={1977},
  volume={198},
  pages={948 - 951}
}
  • J. Wodinsky
  • Published 2 December 1977
  • Biology, Environmental Science
  • Science
Female Octopus hummelincki lays eggs, broods them, reduces its food intake, and dies after the young hatch. Removal of both optic glands after spawning results in cessation of broodiness, resumption of feeding, increased growth, and greatly extended life-span. Optic gland secretions may cause death of most cephalopods and may function to control population size. 
View on AAAS
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
179 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
7
Background Citations
49

179 Citations

Reproduction versus somatic growth: hormonal control in Octopus vulgaris.

Octopus vulgaris can be forced into precocious maturity by removal of the subpedunculate lobe from the brain, an operation that releases the optic glands from inhibition, and allows them to secrete a gonadotropin, which increases the release of amino acids from muscle.

Optic gland enlargement and female gonad maturation in a population of the octopuseledone cirrhosa: a multivariate analysis

This result supports the experimental evidence linking optic gland enlargement with female gonad maturation and suggests that this process occurs normally in the field population.

Egg development in the octopus Eledone cirrhosa

The development of egg/follieular cell complexes is described in maturing females of the octopus Eledone cirrhosa, marked by the columnar appearance of the follicle cells and an increased number of larger and more complex nuclei.

Cephalopod Senescence and Parasitology

A suppressed immune system may increase susceptibility to parasite infection in senescent cephalopod species, particularly in Octopus vulgaris and Octopus maya.

Male reproductive maturity in the octopus, Eledone cirrhosa (Cephalopoda: Octopoda)

  • P. BoyleDaniela Knobloch
  • Biology, Environmental Science
    Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom
  • 1984
No evidence was obtained for a seasonal trend in male maturity and growth of the testis precedes that of the spermatophoric sac, and the size of neither of these reproductive components is predictable from body weight.

Octopus Senescence: The Beginning of the End

This study discusses the ecological implications of senescence in octopus and discusses the males after mating, the females while brooding eggs and after the eggs hatch.

Sex-specific role of the optic gland in Octopus maya: A transcriptomic analysis.

Antigen-induced secretion in the optic gland of Octopus vulgaris

  • D. Froesch
  • Biology
    Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences
  • 1979
The optic gland hormone, which is known to control sexual maturation, feeding and death in Octopus, appears to be involved in a defence mechanism against non-octopus proteins.

Steroid hormones of the octopus self-destruct system

AGE RELATED CHANGES IN REPRODUCTIVE ACTIVITY AND GROWTH IN INDOPLANORBIS EXUSTUS

Molluscs, especially several gastropods species, provide suitable model systems for studies on neuroendocrine control of reproduction and experimental results are not decisively in favor of either the oocytes depletion in the ovaries or the brain centers that control reproductive activity.
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 11 REFERENCES

Pituitary Analogue in the Octopus

A single optic gland hormone apparently determines the state of maturation of both ovaries and oviducts3, and a period of artificially reduced daylength can accelerate the normal onset of sexual maturity in Sepia.

HORMONAL CONTROL OF SEXUAL MATURITY IN OCTOPUS

It is concluded that maturation of the gonad is determined by secretion from the optic glands which is normally held in check by an inhibitory nerve supply from the subpedunculate/dorsal basal lobe area.

The subpedunculate lobe of the octopus brain: evidence for dual function.

Mechanism of hole Boring in Octopus Vulgaris

Summary Gastropod shells were covered with artificial materials to determine whether the octopus can bore through these compounds which are resistant to chemical attack. The octopus penetrated…

The Regulation of Physiological Changes During Mammalian Aging

  • C. Finch
  • Biology
    The Quarterly Review of Biology
  • 1976
It is proposed that age-related changes after maturation result from an extension of the neural and endocrine mechanisms that control earlier development and that produce a regulatory cascade of changing neural, endocrine, and target-tissue interactions.

The peduncle lobe: a visuo-motor centre in octopus

  • J. Messenger
  • Biology
    Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences
  • 1967
Anatomical, physiological and behavioural evidence suggest that the nervous part of the peduncle complex, probably the ped uncle lobe alone, is part of a motor-control system that regulates motor activity on the basis of visual information derived from the optic lobe.

Since secretion from the optic glands is not necessary, copulation in the octopus either may have a nonhormonal basis or other, as yet unidentified, sources of hormone (ovarian?) may be involved

    Zoological Papers, K

    • Wingstrand, Ed. (Zoological Institute of London, London, 1956), pp. 76-105; R. S. Nishioka, H. A. Bern, D. W. Golding, in Aspects ofNeuroendocrinology, W. Bargman and B. Scharrer, Eds. (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1970), pp. 47-54; D. Froesch, Brain Res. 75, 277
    • 1974

    Tetrahymena thermophila was formerly designated Tetrahymena pyriformis, syngen 1. For reasons for name change, see

    • Trans. Am. Microsc. Soc
    • 1976

    All of the effects of surgery on the so-called peduncle complex (a group of structures including the optic glands, peduncles lobe, and olfactory 11. __ and J. Wells

    • J. Exp. Biol
    • 1969