Octopus has both hands and feet

The term Octopus comes from the ancient Greek and means eight feet. But a recent study by international scientists showed that this mollusk has six arms and two legs.

Until now, eight octopus tentacles were believed to be divided into two groups, of which four rear tentacles were responsible for pushing the body and the four front tentacles were used to perform other operations such as catching. bait, put food into your mouth, find the way.

Twenty oceanic centers studying in the UK, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands are also monitoring the octopus to find out whether this animal tends to use on one side (right or left). ) like people or not. They put a lot of toys in the tank and watched the day and night. They were shocked to discover that some basic human perceptions of octopus need to be reconsidered.

"At all oceanographic centers participating in the study, we all noticed a phenomenon: the octopus used only the last pair of tentacles to push the body when it wanted to swim. Their two front limbs were responsible for detecting. find and orientate The four middle limbs are used to support the pair and spend the money in necessary cases , ' said Alex Gerard, an expert at the Oceanographic Center in Brighton on the south coast of England. , said.

An octopus Vulgaris.Photo: greenexpander.com.

The researchers also found that when falling into a difficult situation, the octopus always used a third pair of tentacles to support the first pair of tentacles, not to engage in body push. This contrasts with the notion that their four limbs are behind the body.

"More than half of the octopus in the monitored area does not appear to be more prone to use the right or left limbs more often. The rest are divided into two groups with approximately equal numbers, of which one group often use the right limbs and the other group regularly use tentacles on the left, " said Clair Little, the lead researcher at the center in Weymouth (UK).

According to Claire, the octopus's eyes were all in front of the body, so they used their eyes to determine which tentacles should be used in a specific situation. In general, octopuses tend to choose tentacles closest to objects.

Some previous studies indicate that some octopus or use tentacles on the right than the left and vice versa. Claire judged that the cause of this phenomenon may stem from eyesight loss on one side.

To increase the level of objectivity, scientists gathered results from more than 2,000 separate observations with the help of many volunteers.