Octopus 'hypnosis': inducing tonic immobility for studying local sensorimotor responses and arm-sucker coordination.

ABSTRACT: Effective methods of anesthesia for octopuses are essential to physiological studies as well as for their welfare in scientific research. However, commonly used forms of general anesthesia using ethanol, magnesium chloride, and similar agents have certain drawbacks. While these methods effectively induce still states in the octopus, they also affect the peripheral body and nervous system and are therefore less than optimal for studying local behavior in octopus arms and suckers. Further, stupefying effects outlast the anesthetized state. We explore an old, rarely used method of octopus 'hypnosis' in which tonic immobility is induced as a complementary and sometime alternative method to general anesthesia, as well as being particularly suited to studies of local arm-sucker coordination. We

SUBMITTER: Gribkova ED 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12714133 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature