On Saturday, we had our first demonstration class on the Lincoln Square patio with one of our most popular menus: Italian Surf and Turf. This approach allows us to preserve the specimens for future observation.We officially kicked off grilling season last Wednesday with a hands-on grilling class on Cinco de Mayo. Thanks to our system, we could observe the whole sample without destroying it via histologic cuts. Montserrat Coll, Mesoscopic Imaging Specialist at EMBL Barcelona and one of the authors of the paper, explained the benefits of using light-sheet microscopy in this study: "Light-sheet microscopy helped to obtain a global picture of the distribution of the Kölliker's organs on the epithelium. He added: "The distribution of these organs on the surface of the arms, head and mantle of the octopus and their ability to refract light in two directions suggest that they might also have a role in camouflage." "When you calculate the total surface of the octopus when the Kölliker's organs are spread open towards the outside, the animal increases its total surface by two-thirds," said Villanueva, "which leads us to think that the organs could be used by the young octopuses to increase their surface-to-volume ratio." This could help to facilitate the action of flow-related forces such as drag and propulsion. Credit: Motserrat Coll Llado, Jim Swoger/EMBL specimens courtesy of Roger Villanueva/ICM-CSIC The image shows a cross-section from the middle of the animal. Light-sheet microscopy image of a 50-day-old Octopus vulgaris. The small black spots covering the skin are probably mineral salts associated with the preservation of the sample. The Kölliker’s organs appear on the skin as black forms distributed over the mantle, head, funnel, arms, and web. Light-sheet microscopy image of an individual Octopus vulgaris aged 30 days. The larger the surface, the higher the oxygen intake per breath. The filamented shape of the gills maximises the active surface across which oxygen interchange can take place. Two of the three hearts in an octopus pump blood across the gills. Gills are located inside the mantle cavity of the octopus. Here, we can see gills, the respiratory organs used by aquatic organisms to extract oxygen from water and expel carbon dioxide. Their results were recently published in Frontiers in Marine Science.Ĭredit: European Molecular Biology Laboratory They observed that the structures are evenly distributed on the surface of the skin and are roughly the same size, regardless of the size of the species. With the help of MIF's detailed images, the researchers were able to characterize these organs in more detail. Villanueva and his colleagues examined the Kölliker's organs-which he described as "mini brooms on the surface of the baby octopuses"-from 17 octopod species collected from around the world. MIF examined specimens of hatchlings and juveniles of Octopus vulgaris, or common octopus, as part of a project led by Roger Villanueva from the Institut de Ciències del Mar at CSIC in Spain. These structures are present in embryos but disappear before the adult stage, and their function is unknown. The Mesoscopic Imaging Facility (MIF) at EMBL Barcelona was recently involved in studying one unique feature of the octopus: the ephemeral structures on the surface of their skin called Kölliker's organs.
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