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Sous-vide is a technique of cooking foods in vacuum bags under strictly controlled temperature, offering improved taste, texture and nutritional values along with extended shelf life as compared to the traditional cooking methods. In addition to other constituents, vegetables and seafood represent important sources of phytochemicals. Thus, by applying sous-vide technology, preservation of such foods can be prolonged with almost full retention of native quality. In this way, sous-vide processing meets customers’ growing demand for the production of safer and healthier foods. Considering the industrial points of view, sous-vide technology has proven to be an adequate substitute for traditional cooking methods. Therefore, its application in various aspects of food production has been increasingly researched. Although sous-vide cooking of meats and vegetables is well explored, the challenges remain with seafoods due to the large differences in structure and quality of marine organisms. Cephalopods (e.g., squid, octopus, etc.) are of particular interest, as the changes of their muscular physical structure during processing have to be carefully considered. Based on all the above, this study summarizes the literature review on the recent sous-vide application on vegetable and seafood products in view of production of high-quality and safe foodstuffs.

Octopuses integrate visual, chemical and tactile sensory information while foraging and feeding in complex marine habitats. The respective roles of these modes are of interest ecologically, neurobiologically, and for development of engineered soft robotic arms. While vision guides their foraging path, benthic octopuses primarily search “blindly” with their arms to find visually hidden prey amidst rocks, crevices and coral heads. Each octopus arm is lined with hundreds of suckers that possess a combination of chemo- and mechanoreceptors to distinguish prey. Contact chemoreception has been demonstrated in lab tests, but mechanotactile sensing is less well characterized. We designed a non-invasive live animal behavioral assay that isolated mechanosensory capabilities of Octopus bimaculoides arms and suckers to discriminate among five resin 3D-printed prey and non-prey shapes (all with identical chemical signatures). Each shape was introduced inside a rock dome and was only accessible to the octopus’ arms. Octopuses’ responses were variable. Young octopuses discriminated the crab prey shape from the control, whereas older octopuses did not. These experiments suggest that mechanotactile sensing of 3D shapes may aid in prey discrimination; however, (i) chemo-tactile information may be prioritized over mechanotactile information in prey discrimination, and (ii) mechanosensory capability may decline with age.

Understanding the connectivity among populations of benthic marine organisms is essential for defining the stocks of commercially fished species. Such information allows for better management of commercial species’ populations. The cephalopod Octopus mimus Gould, 1852 is an economically important species exploited by artisanal fishing in northern Chile. To investigate the genetic structure and connectivity of O. mimus populations, we analyzed 6,573 SNPs from 88 octopus samples from the Arica to the Atacama Regions of northern Chile (18°S to 27°S). The results showed an absence of significant population structure, suggesting the existence of a single stock in the studied area. Based on our findings, we conclude that a particular region stands out as pivotal for fishing landings. This area aligns with its status as the primary source of migrants within the survey area. Thus, prioritizing management efforts in this zone is crucial for the sustainability of the octopus fisheries in this region.

Octopuses have keen vision and are generally considered visual predators, yet octopuses predominantly forage blindly in nature, inserting their arms into crevices to search and detect hidden prey. The extent to which octopuses discriminate prey using chemo- versus mechano-tactile sensing is unknown. We developed a whole-animal behavioral assay that takes advantage of octopuses’ natural searching behavior to test their ability to discriminate prey from non-prey tastes solely via contact chemoreception. This methodology eliminated vision, mechano-tactile sensing and distance chemoreception while testing the contact chemosensory discriminatory abilities of the octopus arm suckers. Extracts from two types of prey (crab, shrimp) and three types of non-prey (sea star, algae, seawater) were embedded in agarose (to control for mechano-tactile discrimination) and presented to octopuses inside an artificial rock dome; octopuses reached their arms inside to explore its contents – imitating natural prey-searching behavior. Results revealed that octopuses are capable of discriminating between potential prey items using only contact chemoreception, as measured by an increased amount of sucker contact time and arm curls when presented with prey extracts versus non-prey extracts. These results highlight the importance of contact chemoreception in the multi-modal sensing involved in a complex foraging behavior.

During work on this paper, RGG was supported by CONACYT (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, México) PhD scholarship 464700; IABS was supported by a grant from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (MX, UAM-147.09.01, 04, 07); author PB was supported by Brazilian Coordination of Superior Level Staff Improvement (CAPES)—Finance Code 001 [grant number 88881.068194/2014-01]; MDSI was supported by CONACYT within the framework of Estancias Posdoctorales en el Extranjero 2019–2021; TL and FDL were supported by CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brazil) Project Ciencias do Mar II (CAPES-2203/2014); UM was supported by SENESCYT through the PROMETEO Program during his stay at the Instituto Nacional de Pesca of Ecuador; NO was supported by CONICET (National Council of Scientific and Technical Research, Argentina); MCPG was supported by INACH (Instituto Antártico Chileno, Chile) RG 50-18; EAGV was supported by the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq- grants # 316391/2021-2, #426797/2018-3); and IGG was supported in part by JST (Japan Science and Technology Agency) Grant AS2715164U.

During an experiment of Octopus maya fishing with baited lines during 2012 and 2013 off Lerma, Campeche, Mexico, 307 octopuses (18.3% of all sampled) shown recently caught 424 prey items in their webs. Preys were composed of crustaceans, mollusks, teleost fish, and sipunculans representing at least 52 species. Most prey occurrences were single (73.29%), but up to five prey items were found in some octopus. Crustaceans were the most frequent and abundant prey accounting for 61%FO, 59%N, and 20%W. The most important single prey was the majoid crab Pitho anisodon with 24%FO and 22%N. Molluscans occurred in half of octopus and represented more than a third of all preys and most of preys’ weight. They were mostly bivalves. Fishes did not reach 2% of prey share by any account. Prey numbers differed significantly by year. O. maya feed on small preys, crustaceans, and bivalves in the range of 5–50 mm and gastropod and fishes mostly 50–120 mm in length. Size of prey was weakly or not related to octopus size, although only larger octopus feed on larger prey such strombid conchs. This work represents the first systematic study of octopus diet from direct observations on their recently taken prey. The advantages of this new method to study octopus food are discussed, as well as the feeding behavior associated to some prey.

The right third arm of the male octopus is the hectocotylized arm. This arm is modified by anatomy specialized to hold and transfer sperm packets to the female, and lacks suckers at the distal end. Male octopus may be distinguished by the skilled eye from their habit of holding their hectocotylus closer to their body in a protective manner, although this observation has never been described quantitatively. We utilized a three-step process of data annotation, pose estimation model training, and model inference to show that this common observation is true of Octopus rubescens . In 2338 images, the eyes, mantle tip, and arm tips of two male ( n  = 1152) and three female ( n  = 1085) octopuses were annotated by an experimenter. These images were then used to train a DeepLabCut pose estimation model which achieved a RMSE of 1.78 cm. This model was then used to annotate 11.4 h ( n  = 408,985 images) of four female and eight male octopuses moving across the middle of a large aquarium. We then compared the human annotated data, and the model inference data separately. In both datasets we compared the arm-tip-to-eye centered point distances, as well as the octopus centric arm tip 90% kernel density estimation area. In both the training dataset and the model inference datasets we found common results. Male O. rubescens hold their third to the right arm closer to their body than all seven other arms while the females do not. Further, in both males and females, the rear arm pairs operate closer to the body than the front arm pairs. Despite their anatomical similarity and potential redundancy, these results indicates functional differences in arm use by octopuses.

Amphioctopusaegina is an economically important species that has been intensively exploited in the marine areas along the Chinese coast. However, the genetic variation and population genetic structure, which would provide valuable information for their fisheries management, have rarely been investigated. In this study, the genetic variation within and among four A.aegina populations throughout its full distribution range were estimated based on mitochondrial cytochrome b DNA sequences. Our results indicated low (Qinzhou) to high (Dongshan) genetic diversities among the four populations. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA), ΦST statistics, phylogenetic tree and haplotype networks revealed two significant (p < 0.01) divergent lineages with a ΦST value of 0.7116 between them, one from a population in Qinzhou and the other from the remaining three populations of Dongshan, Huizhou and Zhanjiang. However, the low genetic distance (0.0032) and only two fixed substitutions between them suggest their recent divergence is possibly due to the last glacial period barriers to gene flow produced by the Leizhou Peninsula. The observed lineage divergence suggests that populations of A.aegina in China are genetically subdivided and may represent evolutionary lineages that should be managed individually.Amphioctopusaegina is an economically important species that has been intensively exploited in the marine areas along the Chinese coast. However, the genetic variation and population genetic structure, which would provide valuable information for their fisheries management, have rarely been investigated. In this study, the genetic variation within and among four A.aegina populations throughout its full distribution range were estimated based on mitochondrial cytochrome b DNA sequences. Our results indicated low (Qinzhou) to high (Dongshan) genetic diversities among the four populations. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA), ΦST statistics, phylogenetic tree and haplotype networks revealed two significant (p < 0.01) divergent lineages with a ΦST value of 0.7116 between them, one from a population in Qinzhou and the other from the remaining three populations of Dongshan, Huizhou and Zhanjiang. However, the low genetic distance (0.0032) and only two fixed substitutions between them suggest their recent divergence is possibly due to the last glacial period barriers to gene flow produced by the Leizhou Peninsula. The observed lineage divergence suggests that populations of A.aegina in China are genetically subdivided and may represent evolutionary lineages that should be managed individually.

Oceanic islands are hotspots of marine biodiversity, and biogeographic and evolutionary studies can provide important knowledge about the origin and diversification of the species that inhabit them. In the South Pacific, the Juan Fernández Archipelago (JFA) stands out for its high endemic biota, most of them endangered by human activities. Currently, two octopus species are recognized in JFA, but their taxonomic identity is not conclusive. In the present study, we performed morphometric and molecular analyses of both species inhabiting the JFA and contrast them with other species worldwide. Morphological, phylogenetic analysis, genetic diversity, and divergence times between species were estimated. Morphometric analysis did not show significant differences in body shape of males between/within Octopus species from JFA, only between females from different localities. However, phylogenetic and species delimitation analyses support the presence of two species in the JFA, namely Octopus mimus and Octopus vulgaris. In addition, both species show evidence of different divergence and colonization histories into the JFA during the Pleistocene. These findings do not only shed light on the identity, origin, and colonization time of the species, but also provide the basis to generate informed decisions on management and conservation. The recent colonization time and low genetic diversity observed in both species suggest that these populations are vulnerable to drastic changes, such as those caused by anthropic effects.

Over thirty years ago anecdotal accounts of the undescribed Larger Pacific Striped Octopus suggested behaviors previously unknown for octopuses. Beak-to-beak mating, dens shared by mating pairs, inking during mating and extended spawning were mentioned in publications, and enticed generations of cephalopod biologists. In 2012-2014 we were able to obtain several live specimens of this species, which remains without a formal description. All of the unique behaviors listed above were observed for animals in aquaria and are discussed here. We describe the behavior, body color patterns, and postures of 24 adults maintained in captivity. Chromatophore patterns of hatchlings are also shown.