What is your niche in life?

Date
Posted by
Comments0
Finding your niche is one of the fastest way to be successful in life. Differentiating yourself and specializing at a position, place,or area  is the key to success.
 
This applies to all living things, through evolution and hereditary traits, they form adaptive features that shapes the role they play in their environment. This included their  unique lifestyle ,utilization of resources and their relationships. Octopus bimaculoides has curved a niche for itself.

 

 Camouflaging attribute and niche of O. bimaculoides. Courtesy of Partial Pressure Productions https://vimeo.com/55454085

 

This  video shows the undeniably incredible O. bimaculoides  diving in the Southern California waters, easily identified by false bright blue eye spots on their side of their head. You can see the distinguished feature vanishing as to blend in its environment. Cephalopods can change the color and skin texture of soft tissue using chromatophores. The chromatophores in their skin tissue are expanded by muscle contraction ,initiated by light -sensitive receptors in eyes and skin.
 
The video also depicts O. bimaculoides hiding and camouflaging itself in a hole near a rocky site. It’s advantageous hiding spot became obvious, when a fish (prey) roamed around unalarmed.
 
In the last blog, we found out O. bimaculoides resided on the southern coast of California, Santa Barbara stretching to San Quintin, Mexico.(1) It is a marine benthic cephalopod who prefers rocky or muddy nearshore dens.These spots serve as great hideout for their nocturnal predator lifestyle. They stake out and hunt for crabs, oysters and small fish for food, hence controlling the population of small crustaceans and fishes. They serve as (prey) food for humans, seals, sea lion and larger fishes.(3)

 

Fun fact of the day

Octopus have blue blood due to hemocyanin. Unlike hemoglobin ,the iron based blood in humans,Hemocyanin is copper base . At extremely low temperatures and low oxygen levels, hemocyanin is better adapted to transport oxygen .

Joke of the day

What did the male octopus say to the female octopus?
I want to hold your hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand, hand!

Reference

1. Forsythe,J.W & Hanlon, R.T.(1988) Effect of temperature on laboratory growth, reproduction and life span of Octopus bimaculoides. Marine Biology, Volume 98, Issue 3, pp 369–379.Viewed on 2/6/2018 at  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF0039111
 
2.  Partial Pressure Productions -Video credit.Retrieved online in 2/6/2018 at https://vimeo.com/55454085
 
3. Ramirez,M. D. and  Oakley T (1995)Eye-independent, light-activated chromatophore expansion (LACE) and expression of phototransduction genes in the skin of Octopus bimaculoides Journal of Experimental Biology 2015 218: 1513-1520; doi: 10.1242/jeb.110908. Retrieved online in 2/6/2018 at

http://jeb.biologists.org/content/218/10/1513

4. Stoskopf, M., & Oppenheim, B. (1996). Anatomic Features of Octopus bimaculoides and Octopus digueti. Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine, 27(1), 1-18. Retrieved online in 2/6/2018 at http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.gsu.edu/stable/pdf/20095538.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A03a2689a734e7ff763c1c3ad3964fcd8

 

Welcome to Headlining Cephalopods.

Date
Posted by
Comments2


 

  Octopus bimaculoides,commonly known as California two-spot octopus due to the  blue eye spots.Credit- Tom Kleindinst/Marine Biological Laboratory (http://www.mbl.edu/blog/smart-cephalopods-trade-off-genome-evolution-for-rna-editing/)

 

My mom always used to say, the bigger the head, the bigger the brain. Suggesting that big headed people were smarter, because they had big well-developed brains in their cranial cavity. These word resonates with me, when i think about cephalopods.

As their name indicates ,derived from greek words kephalē for head, and podos, foot ,Cephalopods have their well developed head fused with their modified foot/arms of tentacles. The largest class of invertebrates included octopuses, devilfish, nautiluses,cuttlefish and squids. In the marine ecosystem, they serve as vital predators.

Here on this blog ,I would be showcasing the Octopus.The distinguishing features of the Octopus that is commonly known is the lack of a shell and the number of modified foot (eight tentacles),but as time goes on we would dive into the world of these magnificent animals.

O. bimaculoides,commonly known as California two-spot octopus based on the presence of blue eye spots below their eye.It belongs to the phylum Mollusca,Class Cephalopoda, Subclass Coleoidea and Order Octopoda.This octopus is found on the southern coast of California ,Santa Barbara stretching to San Quintin,Mexico. (Forsythe,J.W (1988))

Fun Fact of the day

Members of the Coleoidea have ink glands that produce sepia, a melanin containing pigment, stored in their ink sacs. As a defense mechanism, they release a cloud of ink and escape,when threatened .

Joke of the day

How does an octopus go to war? Well-armed!

REFERENCE:

DIANA KENNEY(2017) Smart” Cephalopods Trade Off Genome Evolution for Prolific RNA Editing,, The Marine Biological Laboratory at http://www.mbl.edu/blog/smart-cephalopods-trade-off-genome-evolution-for-rna-editing/

Forsythe,J.W & Hanlon, R.T.(1988) Effect of temperature on laboratory growth, reproduction and life span of Octopus bimaculoides.,Marine Biology, Volume 98, Issue 3, pp 369–379.Viewed on 1/26/2018 at  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF0039111

Liscovitch-Brauer et al (2017) Trade-off between transcriptome plasticity and genome evolution in cephalopods.Cell DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.03.025