Octopuses have intricate and not well-understood nervous systems, with neural pathways extending down the entire length of each of their eight limbs. The arms are equipped with suckers that provide a sense of touch, and they also host chemoreceptors, which allow these creatures to “taste” their surroundings through contact.

“If I’m an octopus, I utilize my arms to glide over surfaces, insert them into holes on the seafloor, probe crevices in coral formations or rocky ledges, feeling and essentially tasting to understand my environment,” explained Buresch.

Octopuses have a decentralized nervous system with more neurons in their arms than in their central brain, Buresch said.

“We’re all sort of starting to piece together the different parts of the puzzle that explain, How does this bizarre nervous system work?”