The Soul of an Octopus Page 25

  Acknowledgments

  I am deeply indebted to everyone, vertebrate and invertebrate, mentioned in these pages, and to many who are not.

  Without exception, each volunteer and staff member I have met at the New England Aquarium has been extraordinarily knowledgeable and helpful, welcoming me to explore the institution’s every aspect. Anita Metzler showed me her research lobsters (each with a distinctive personality). Jamie Mathison introduced me to the aquarium’s seals and sea lions, and had Amelia the harbor seal kiss my lips and Cordova the northern fur seal kiss my nose. John Reardon, senior watch engineer, gave me a tour of the basement, the humming heart of the aquarium, with its giant storage tanks and pumps and filters. These and many other scenes never made it into this book, but I will remember them, and the kindness of those who made them possible, always.

  Likewise I will never forget my visit to the octopus lab at Middlebury College in Vermont and its eleven California two-spot octopuses, especially the outgoing and vivacious female, Octopus 1. Many thanks to director of neuroscience Tom Root, director of animal research Vicki Major, assistant animal caretaker Carolyn Clarkson, and the other caretakers and researchers who welcomed me and my friends from the New England Aquarium on our daylong tour there.

  Several expeditions further afield, one above water and two below, were critical to this book. My two research trips to the Seattle Aquarium, to attend the Octopus Symposium and the Octopus Blind Date, were rendered especially informative and meaningful thanks to the kindness of the late Roland Anderson. I am grateful to the staff of United Divers and to Barb Sylvestre at Aquatic Specialties for opening to me the world of diving. I thank scuba instructor extraordinaire Doris Morrissette for including me on the trip to Cozumel, Mexico, where I saw my first wild octopuses. I thank, too, the other people in our tight-knit group: Rob Sylvestre, Walter Hooker, Mary Ann Johnston, Mike Beresford, and Janice and Ray Nadeau, as well as the helpful and knowledgeable staff of Scuba Club Cozumel. For her pioneering research, generous spirit, and enduring friendship, I thank Jennifer Mather, who organized and led the octopus research expedition to Mooréa, French Polynesia, with fellow researchers David Scheel, Tatiana Leite, and Keely Langford, friends whom I will always treasure.

  In addition, I owe special thanks to:

  Orion editor (and wonderful author) Andrew Blechman for his encouragement for my original article on octopuses in his fine magazine.

  Evolutionary biologist Gary Galbreath, my chief scientific adviser and hero, gifted teacher, respected field researcher, and friend to animals everywhere.

  Jody Simpson, for listening to this book evolve over the course of three years and many hundreds of long walks in the woods with our dogs, Sally, Pearl, and May.

  Polymath Mike Strzelec, indestructible adventurer who ably served as a research assistant while I was writing this book, sending me octopodan articles on topics ranging from the function of cephalopod nidamental glands to the less-welcome Japanese concept of “tentacle sex.”

  Hancock, New Hampshire, librarian Amy Markus, who did double duty as my personal assistant while I was away researching this book.

  Author and translator Jerry Ryan, for his insights into the New England Aquarium’s rich history.

  Tianne Strombeck, for her sensitive and revealing portraits of Octavia, Kali, and Karma; Johanna Blasi, for her photos of the Giant Ocean Tank; and Keith Ellenbogen and David Scheel, for their splendid company and photos from our trip to Mooréa.

  Designer Paul Dippolito for the elegant look of this book. Liz Thomas, for her unending support and flawless advice as I researched and wrote this book—and all the books before and after this one.

  My husband, Howard Mansfield, for his exceptional editorial scrutiny, patience, and kindness, and for putting up with all those octopus hickeys.

  Marion Britt, Christa Carceo, Selinda Chiquoine, Marc Dohan, Scott Dowd, Joel Glick, Jennifer Mather, Marion and Sam Magill-Dohan, Robert Matz, Wilson Menashi, Bill Murphy, Andrew Murphy, Judith and Robert Oksner, Jerry Price, Liz Thomas, Jody Simpson, Gretchen Vogel, and Polly Watson for carefully reading, correcting, and commenting on the manuscript.

  My beloved literary agent, Sarah Jane Freymann, my terrific editor, Leslie Meredith, and her wonderful associate editor, Donna Loffredo, who all believed in this book from the start.

  Selected Bibliography

  The following is a list of some of the books, articles, videos, and websites I found especially helpful when thinking about and researching this book:

  BOOKS

  Bailey, Elisabeth Tova. The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2010.

  Blackmore, Susan. Consciousness: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2005.

  Cosgrove, James A., and Neil McDaniel. Super Suckers: The Giant Pacific Octopus and Other Cephalopods of the Pacific Coast. Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Press, 2009.

  Courage, Katherine Harmon. Octopus! The Most Mysterious Creature in the Sea. New York: Penguin, 2013.

  Cousteau, Jacques, and Philippe Diolé. Octopus and Squid: The Soft Intelligence. New York: Doubleday, 1973.

  Damasio, Antonio. The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness. New York: Harcourt Brace and Co., 1999.

  Dennett, Daniel C. Kinds of Minds: Toward an Understanding of Consciousness. New York: Basic Books, 1996.

  Dunlop, Colin, and Nancy King. Cephalopods: Octopuses and Cuttlefishes for the Home Aquarium. Neptune City, NJ: TFH Publications, 2009.

  Ellis, Richard. The Search for the Giant Squid: The Biology and Mythology of the World’s Most Elusive Sea Creature. New York: Penguin, 1999.

  Fortey, Richard. Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms: The Story of the Animals and Plants That Time Has Left Behind. New York: Knopf, 2012.

  Foulkes, David. Children’s Dreaming and the Development of Consciousness. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999.

  Gibson, James William. A Reenchanted World: The Quest for a New Kinship with Nature. New York: Holt, 2009.

  Gomez, Luiz. A Pictorial Guide to Common Fish in the Mexican Caribbean. Cancún, Mexico: Editora Fotografica Marina Kukulcan S.A. de C.V., 2012.

  Grant, John, and Ray Jones. Window to the Sea. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 2006.

  Gregg, Justin. Are Dolphins Really Smart? The Mammal Behind the Myth. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2013.

  Hall, James A. Jungian Dream Interpretation. Toronto: Inner City Books, 1983.

  Humann, Paul, and Ned Deloach. Reef Creature Identification: Florida Caribbean Bahamas. Jacksonville, FL: New World Publications, 2002.

  ____. Reef Coral Identification: Florida Caribbean Bahamas. Jacksonville, FL: New World Publications, 2011.

  Jaynes, Julian. The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976.

  Keenan, Julian Paul. The Face in the Mirror: The Search for Origins of Consciousness. New York: Harper Collins Ecco, 2003.

  Lane, Frank. Kingdom of the Octopus. New York: Pyramid Publications, 1962.

  Lewbel, George S., and Larry R. Martin. Diving and Snorkeling Cozumel. St. Footscray, Victoria, Australia: Lonely Planet Publications, 2006.

  Linden, Eugene. The Octopus and the Orangutan. New York: Dutton, 2002.

  Mather, Jennifer, Roland C. Anderson, and James B. Wood. Octopus: The Ocean’s Intelligent Invertebrate. Portland, OR: Timber Press, 2010.

  Mather, J. A. “Cephalopod Displays: From Concealment to Communication.” In Evolution of Communication Systems, eds. D. Kimbrough Oller and Ulrike Griebel, 193–213. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004.

  Morell, Virginia. Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures. New York: Crown, 2013.

  Moynihan, Martin. Communication and Noncommunication by Cephalopods. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1985.

  Paust, Brian C. Fishing for Octopus: A Guide for Commercial Fishermen. Fairbanks, AK: Sea Grant/University of Alaska, 2000.
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  Prager, Ellen. Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime: The Oceans’ Oddest Creatures and Why They Matter. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012.

  Ryan, Jerry. A History of the New England Aquarium 1957–2004. Boston: produced for limited distribution by the author, 2011.

  ____. The Forgotten Aquariums of Boston, 2nd rev. ed. Pascoag, RI: Finley Aquatic Books, 2002.

  Segaloff, Nat, and Paul Erickson. A Reef Comes to Life: Creating an Undersea Exhibit. Boston: Franklin Watts, 1991.

  Shubin, Neil. Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body. New York: Vintage, 2009.

  Siers, James. Moorea. Wellington, New Zealand: Millwood Press, 1974.

  Williams, Wendy. Kraken: The Curious, Exciting, and Slightly Disturbing Science of Squid. New York: Abrams Image, 2011.

  SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES

  Anderson, Roland D., Jennifer Mather, Mathieu Q. Monette, and Stephanie R. M. Zimsen. “Octopuses (Enteroctopus Doflenini) Recognize Individual Humans.” 2010. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 13: 261–72.

  Boal, Jean Geary, Andrew W. Dunham, Kevin T. Williams, and Roger T. Hanlon. “Experimental Evidence for Spatial Learning in Octopuses (Octopus Biomaculoides).” 2000. Journal of Comparative Psychology 114: 246–52.

  Brembs, B. “Towards a Scientific Concept of Free Will as a Biological Trait: Spontaneous Actions and Decision-Making in Invertebrates.” 2011. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Biological Sciences 278 (170): 930–39.

  Byrne, Ruth, Michael J. Kuba, Daniela V. Meisel, Ulrike Griebel, and Jennifer Mather. “Does Octopus Vulgaris Have Preferred Arms?” 2006. Journal of Comparative Psychology 120 (3): 198–204.

  Godfrey-Smith, Peter, and Matthew Lawrence. “Long-Term High-Density Occupation of a Site by Octopus Tetricus and Possible Site Modification Due to Foraging Behavior.” 2012. Marine Freshwater Behavior and Physiology 45 (4): 261–68.

  Hochner, Binyamin, Tal Shormrat, and Graziano Fiorito. “The Octopus: A Model for a Comparative Analysis of the Evolution of Learning and Memory Mechanisms.” 2006. The Biological Bulletin 210 (3): 308–17.

  Leite, T. S., M. Haimovici, W. Molina, and K. Warnke. “Morphological and Genetic Description of Octopus Insularis, a New Cryptic Species of the Octopus Vulgaris Complex from the Tropical Southwestern Atlantic.” 2008. Journal of Molluscan Studies 74 (1): 63–74.

  Lucerno, M., H. Farrington, and W. Gilly. “Quantification of L-Dopa and Dopamine in Squid Ink: Implications for Chemoreception.” 1994. The Biological Bulletin 187 (1): 55–63.

  Mather, J. A., Tatiana Leite, and Allan T. Battista. “Individual Prey Choices of Octopus: Are They Generalists or Specialists?” 2012. Current Zoology 58 (4): 597–603.

  Mather, J. A. “Cephalopod Consciousness: Behavioral Evidence.” 2008. Consciousness and Cognition 17 (1): 37–48.

  Mather, J. A., and Roland C. Anderson. “Ethics and Invertebrates: a Cephalopod Perspective.” 2007. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 75: 119-129.

  Mather, J. A., and R. C. Anderson. “Exploration, Play and Habituation in Octopus Dofleini.” 1999. Journal of Comparative Psychology 113: 333–38.

  Mather, Jennifer A. “Cognition in Cephalopods.” 1995. Advances in the Study of Behavior 24: 316–53.

  Mather, J. A. “ ‘Home’ Choice and Modification by Juvenile Octopus Vulgaris: Specialized Intelligence and Tool Use?” 1994. Journal of Zoology (London) 233: 359–68.

  Mathger, Lydia M., Steven B. Roberts, and Roger T. Hanlon. “Evidence for Distributed Light Sensing in the Skin of Cuttlefish, Sepia Officinalis.” 2011. Biology Letters 6: 600–03.

  Nair, J. Rajasekharan, Devika Pillai, Sophia Joseph, P. Gomathi, Priya V. Senan, and P. M. Sherief. “Cephalopod Research and Bioactive Substances.” 2011. Indian Journal of Geo-Marine Sciences 40 (1): 13–27.

  Toussaint, R. K., David Scheel, G. K. Sage, and S. L. Talbot. “Nuclear and Mitochondrial Markers Reveal Evidence for Genetically Segregated Cryptic Speciation in Giant Pacific Octopuses from Prince William Sound, Alaska.” 2012. Conservation Genetics 13 (6): 1483–97.

  VIDEOS ON THE WEB

  Web addresses frequently change; I used these when researching the book.

  New England Aquarium’s Bill Murphy interacts with his late friend George, a giant Pacific octopus:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_60WQZkgiaU

  An octopus materializes from a piece of algae—and then swims away:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckP8msIgMYE

  The first of Roger Hanlon’s excellent series of lectures on camouflage and signaling in cephalopods. Follow the links to watch the others:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDvvVOlyaLI

  A diver was shocked when an octopus seized his new video camera from his hands—and then made off with the prize, the camera rolling all the while:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5DyBkYKqnM

  Releasing the Dude, a giant Pacific octopus who briefly lived at the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre, into the wild:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V57Dfn_F69c

  When sharks started showing up dead at the Seattle Aquarium’s large tank, the octopus was found to blame:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urkC8pLMbh4

  Training lumpfish at the New England Aquarium:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j9S0vBHpUw

  A veined octopus tiptoes the sea bottom while carrying a coconut shell half as portable armor:

  http://www.news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091214-octopus-carries-coconuts-coconut-carrying.html

  In a cove in West Seattle, a giant Pacific octopus tenderly cares for her 50,000 eggs as they hatch during the last week of her life:

  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/23/giant-pacific-octopus-bab_n_883384.html

  AUDIO

  The team of Living on Earth visits Octavia at the New England Aquarium:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j9S0vBHpUw

  OTHER ONLINE RESOURCES

  New England Aquarium’s Web page, with visitor information, videos, news, and special programs: www.neaq.org

  Seattle Aquarium’s Web page, which will include announcements of Octopus Week and the biannual Octopus Symposium: www.seattleaquarium.org

  The Octopus News Magazine Online: News about octopus, nautilus, squid, cuttlefish, and cephalopod fossils: www.TONMO.com

  Philosopher-diver Peter Godfrey-Smith’s fascinating blog about cephalopod evolution, bodies, minds, and the sea, including a special section on Octopolis: www.giantcuttlefish.com

  MD/PhD student Mike Lisieski’s excellent, in-depth articles and video on cephalopods, with special emphasis on intelligence and camouflage: cephalove.southernfriedscience.com

  Author and Scientific American contributing editor Katherine Harmon Courage’s clever and breezy blog about octopuses: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/octopus-chronicles/

  Index

  A

  Aelianus, Claudius, ref1

  Alaska, ref1

  Amazon, ref1, ref2

  anacondas, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6

  Anaxagoras, ref1

  Anderson, Jackie, ref1

  Anderson, Roland, ref1, ref2, ref3

  anemones, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4

  angelfish, ref1

  animus mundi, ref1

  Aquatic Specialties, ref1, ref2, ref3

  Aristotle, ref1

  arowanas, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4

  Athena, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12

  death of, ref1, ref2, ref3

  B

  basket stars, ref1

  bass, ref1

  bats, ref1

  Becken, Guy, ref1, ref2

  Beebe, William, ref1

  Beijing Aquarium, ref1

  Beston, Henry, ref1

  bird wrasses, ref1

  bites, ref1, ref2, ref3

  octopus, ref1, ref2, ref3

  Blackmore, Susan, ref1

  Boyle, Susan, ref1

 
brain:

  dreaming and, ref1

  human, ref1, ref2

  neurons in, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5

  of octopuses, ref1, ref2, ref3

  size of, ref1, ref2

  Brandeis University, ref1

  Brembs, Björn, ref1

  Brightwell, L. R., ref1

  British Columbia, ref1

  British Journal of Pharmacology, ref1

  Britt, Marion, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9

  marriage of, ref1, ref2, ref3

  Buddha, ref1, ref2

  Burnett, Frances Hodgson, ref1

  Bushmen, ref1

  butterfly fish, ref1

  Byrne, Ruth, ref1

  C

  Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness, ref1

  Carceo, Christa, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7, ref8, ref9, ref10, ref11, ref12, ref13, ref14, ref15, ref16, ref17, ref18, ref19, ref20, ref21, ref22, ref23, ref24, ref25, ref26, ref27, ref28, ref29

  Carceo, Danny, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, ref5, ref6, ref7

  Caribbean, ref1, ref2, ref3

  Cephalopod Page, The, ref1

  Cephalopods: Octopuses and Cuttlefishes for the Home Aquarium (King and Dunlop), ref1

  cephalotoxin, ref1

  Cephalove, ref1

  Chalmers, David, ref1

  Chilstrom, Hariana, ref1

  chimpanzees, ref1, ref1

  chimeras, ref1, ref2

  cichlids, ref1, ref2

  clams, ref1