Octopus Senescence: The Beginning of the End

@article{Anderson2002OctopusST,
  title={Octopus Senescence: The Beginning of the End},
  author={Roland C. Anderson and James B. Wood and Ruth A. Byrne},
  journal={Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science},
  year={2002},
  volume={5},
  pages={275 - 283}
}
Senescence is a normal stage of an octopus's life cycle that often occurs before death. Some of the following symptoms typify it: lack of feeding, retraction of skin around the eyes, uncoordinated movement, increased undirected activity, and white unhealing lesions on the body. There is inter- and intraspecific variability. Senescence is not a disease or a result of disease, although diseases can also be a symptom of it. Both males and females go through a senescent stage before dying-the males… 
View on Taylor & Francis
citeseerx.ist.psu.edu
75 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
8
Background Citations
42

75 Citations

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.

Comparison of Behavior, Histology and ImpL2 Gene Expression of Octopus sinensis Under Starvation and Senescence Conditions

Offshore cephalopods usually experience a short and extreme senescence process at the end of their lives. Unique behaviors such as brooding and fasting occur during this period. The cause of…

Egg laying and embryo development of Octopus huttoni in response to temperature and season

Reproduction was found to occur all year-round, but there was a tendency to lay eggs in the spring and summer, most likely due to the increase in planktonic food production during this time of year.

Age of spent Octopus vulgaris and stress mark analysis using beaks of wild individuals

A beak analysis of lateral wall surfaces from 20 spent specimens confirmed the 1-year lifecycle of the Octopus vulgaris species in Central East Atlantic waters and supports the daily deposition of RSS beak increments in the wild.

Phenoptosis in arthropods and immortality of social insects

Most likely, natural selection in insects does not lengthen individual lifespan, but favors increase in reproduction efficiency based on fast succession of generations leading to increased evolvability.

Health status of post-spawning Octopus maya (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae) females from Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

The results demonstrate that O. maya females are adapted to maintain an adequate state of health to care for their spawn despite the long period of starvation and contribute to the identification of the mechanisms involved in maintaining the integrity of these animals during one of the most critical phases of their life cycle.

Behaviour Development: A Cephalopod Perspective

  • J. Mather
  • Environmental Science
    International Journal of Comparative Psychology
  • 2006
Evaluating the development of behaviour from the viewpoint of the intelligent and learning dependent cephalopod mollusks as a contrast to that of mammals finds that Sepia officinalis cuttlefish have a swift decline in memory capacity and also brain degeneration during their short period of senescence.

Senescence as a trade-off between successful land colonisation and longevity: critical review and analysis of a hypothesis

Senescence may have emerged as a side effect of the evolution of adaptive features that allowed the colonisation of land, and may be a compromise between land colonisation and longevity in mammals.

Reproductive Biology of the Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris Cuvier, 1797) in South Kenya

Sexual staging of gonads indicated that the common octopus was breeding year round with a spawning peak from June to August, and the lowest gonadosomatic index values were recorded during the month of September, indicating the end of the spawning period.

Oviducal gland transcriptomics of Octopus maya through physiological stages and the negative effects of temperature on fertilization

The molecular bases of octopus fertilization and egg-laying, and how they are affected by elevated temperatures are understood to better understand the effect of temperature on the expression of key reproductive genes.
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 44 REFERENCES

Reproduction and condition of female Octopus mimus (Mollusca: Cephalopoda)

The relationship between reproduction and condition was studied in a 15 mo sample of 919 maturing, mature and post-spawning female Octopus mimus caught in Iquique (North Chile), where condition deteriorated dramatically after spawning, during parental care of the eggs.

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.

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

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…

Spawning Mode and Reproductive Output of the Tropical Cephalopod Idiosepius pygmaeus

Reproductive biology of the tropical sepioid cephalopod Idiosepius pygmaeus was investigated in wild specimens and in individuals maintained in aquaria through the adult life span, indicating a coordination of reproductive and somatic growth.

Assessment of the mating history of female pygmy octopuses and a possible sperm competition mechanism

  • J. Cigliano
  • Biology, Environmental Science
    Animal Behaviour
  • 1995

Laboratory maintenance, breeding, rearing, and biomedical research potential of the Yucatan octopus (Octopus maya).

Eggs of the Yucatan octopus, Octopus maya, were collected at Campeche, Mexico, transported to Hawaii, and incubated in glass funnels. Benthic juveniles hatched from the large (17-mm) eggs and were…

Laboratory maintenance, breeding, rearing, and biomedical research potential of the Yucatan octopus (Octopus maya).

Eggs of the Yucatan octopus, Octopus maya, were collected at Campeche, Mexico, transported to Hawaii, and incubated in glass funnels. Benthic juveniles hatched from the large (17-mm) eggs and were…

Advances in the laboratory culture of octopuses for biomedical research.

Five species of Octopus were cultured in pilot, large-scale 2,600 liter circulating seawater systems and Octopus bimaculoides showed superior qualities for laboratory culture, along with their uses in biomedical research.

Are molluscan maximum life spans determined by long-term cycles in benthic communities?

Overall, molluscan longevities tend to be slightly longer than the corresponding cycle suggesting that there is selection pressure for life spans slightly longerthan the cycle controlling recruitment success and generational replacement.

The constraints on cephalopods: why squid aren't fish

The basic inefficiency of the jet-propulsion system has required bioenergetic, physiological, and biochemical adaptations in squid which maximize their metabolic rates, which resulted in the short life history and semelparous reproductive patterns that seem to characterize these coleoid cephalopods.