By Nell Greenfieldboyce
Broadcast on “All Things Considered,” June 3, 2019
At the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass., there’s a room filled with burbling aquariums. A lot of them have lids weighed down with big rocks.
“Octopuses are notorious for being able to, kind of, escape out of their enclosures,” says Bret Grasse, whose official title at MBL is “manager of cephalopod operations” — cephalopods being squid, cuttlefish and octopuses.
He’s part of a team that’s trying to figure out the best ways to raise these sea creatures in captivity, so that scientists can investigate their genes and learn the secrets of their strange, almost alien ways. Read more and hear broadcast …
Caption: A California two-spot octopus extends a sucker-lined arm from its den. In 2015, this was the first octopus species to have its full genetic sequence published. Courtesy of Michael LaBarbera
Source: Octopuses’ Big Brains And Unique Behavior Spur Basic Research | NPR