How many hearts does an octopus have? The structure of the octopus. A photo

Do you know a lot about octopuses? Besides that they have eight legs? For example, do you know how many hearts an octopus has? Yes, yes, the question is asked absolutely right. After all, the octopus does not have one heart, but several! Or what are these creatures capable of?

Come on, we'll figure it out. And not only in how many hearts the octopus has, but in general, what kind of animal it is, where it can be found.

Huge clam

Octopus (photo below) refers to cephalopods. These creatures live in the vastness of the entire globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. But still, octopuses do not tolerate fresh water, they should be given salinity no less than 30 percent.

Their dimensions are also very different: from a few centimeters to 6-7 meters. But still, "average growth" for them is 1.5-2 meters. The largest octopus live near the coast of Colombia: some weigh 15-20 kg, and the length of their tentacles varies from 2 to 2.5 meters, and sometimes more!

The largest octopus was found in Western Canada. This giant octopus weighed 242 kilograms, and the length of its tentacles reached 10 meters! Terrible, probably, a sight. Now all the stories of the sailors about the Krakenes, capable of flooding the ships, no longer seem just foolish tales.

External structure of the octopus

The octopus has a soft oval body, clad in a mantle (a skin-muscular sac). The mantle can be smooth, with pimples or wrinkled (depends on the type of octopus). Inside, beneath it, are organs.

The mantle also serves as a repository of water. Since an octopus is a marine creature, it can not exist without water. In order to get out on land, it also requires supplies of liquid. This reserve is enough for four hours. However, there are cases when octopuses remained on land more than 24 hours.

On the head of the octopus are large eyes, like most representatives of deep-sea creatures, with pupils of a square shape.

The mouth of the octopus is small, with a pair of strong jaws. Outwardly, it resembles the beak of a parrot. Therefore it is called "beak". In the mouth there is a linguistic outgrowth ("odontophora"). On both sides of the body are the gills, which are responsible for the extraction of oxygen from the water.

Tentacle arms

From the head go eight hand-tentacles, surrounding the mouth. On the inside of each tentacle are the suckers, with which the octopus is able to hold prey or suck in underwater objects. On one "hand" suckers can be up to 220! An interesting fact is that there are visual analyzers in the suckers . So the octopuses are truly unique: they can see with their limbs!

Tentacles of the octopus are most often targeted by enemies. Therefore, nature has given the octopus the ability to tear off its limbs in order to escape. The enemy will have only a trophy. This property in science is called autotomy. The muscles of the tentacle begin to contract so much that it leads to a rupture. Literally in a day the wound begins to heal, and the limb re-grows. You will say, like a lizard. But no. The lizard is able to drop the tail only in a certain place, neither more nor less. And the octopus can tear off its "hand" wherever it wants.

The internal structure of the octopus

The octopus has a huge brain that protects the cartilaginous capsule (skull). The brain consists of 64 lobes and even has rudimentary cortices. Biologists compare the intelligence of an octopus to the mind of a domestic cat. The octopuses are capable of emotions and are very smart. They have good memory and are even able to distinguish between geometric shapes.

Like other creatures, octopuses have a liver, stomach, glands and intestinal tract. So, the esophagus on the way to the stomach permeates the liver and brain. The esophagus is very thin, therefore, before swallowing food, the octopus of a pretty one crushes it with a "beak". Then, already in the stomach, digests food with the help of digestive juice, which produces the liver and pancreas. In the stomach, the octopus has an outgrowth - the cecum, which is responsible for the absorption of nutrients. The octopus's liver is a large, oval-shaped brown organ. It performs several functions at once: it absorbs amino acids, produces enzymes and stores nutrients.

In the occipital part of the skull are the organs of equilibrium - statocysts. These are bubbles, inside of which there is liquid and calcareous stones (statoliths). When the body of the octopus changes its position in space, the pebbles move and touch the walls of the bubbles, covered with sensitive cells, which greatly irritates the octopus. This is how he can orient himself in space even without light.

In the special process of the rectum, the octopus stores a stock of poisonous ink, which serve as an excellent remedy. Skin covers (or rather, the mantle of the octopus) contain specific cells: chromotophores and iridiocysts, which are responsible for the ability to change color. The first contain black, red, brown, yellow and orange pigments. The latter allow the octopuses to turn into a purple, green, blue or metallic hue.

The octopus has a highly developed circulatory system. Musculature and skin in many places have capillaries, which serve to move the arteries into the veins.

How many hearts does an octopus have?

So, we came to this exciting issue. It is already clear that these creatures have not one heart. But then how much? Perhaps now everyone will be surprised. After all, the octopus has 3 hearts. As many as three! None of the representatives of mammals, amphibians or birds have such a phenomenon. Yes, there are four-chambered hearts, as in mammals, three-chambered, like amphibians, or in general one-chamber (fish) hearts. But one heart each!

Then why does the octopus have 3 hearts? Recall that the heart is a muscle that, cutting at a certain rate, pumps blood in the living body. So, cephalopods, to which the octopus belongs, have not too "successful" gills: they create a strong resistance to blood. Therefore, one heart would simply not be able to cope with it.

How do they work?

So, the octopus has three hearts. One is the main thing that drives blood all over the body of the octopus. This heart consists of two atria and a small ventricle. And one more heart near each gill (there are two of them with an octopus). These hearts are smaller. They help the main muscle to push blood through the gills, from where it, already filled with oxygen, returns to the atrium of the big heart. Therefore, they are called "gill".

Regardless of how many octopus hearts, they all fight equally. The frequency of their contractions depends on the temperature of the water in which the creature is located. So, the colder the water, the slower the heart beats. For example, at a temperature of 20-22 degrees, the muscles contract somewhere 40-50 times per minute.

By the way, the heart of the octopus, more precisely the heart, is by no means the only feature of the mollusk. His blood is also very distinctive. Imagine, it's blue! The thing is that there is a hemocyanin enzyme in it, which contains copper oxides.