Octopus arms attach to the animal’s head. “It’s really exciting to see someone taking a comprehensive look at the cell types involved” - and how they work. How the arms sense and process information is key to understanding octopus intelligence, she says. However, she adds, “Understanding how it’s actually working is a very different thing.” She was not involved in the study. “We’ve known that taste by touch,” she says. She’s a neurobiologist who studies octopuses at Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. “There was a huge gap in knowledge of how octopus actually collect information about their environment,” says Tamar Gutnick. These cells, which allow the animal to taste food, have not been seen in other animals.

Researchers have just found specialized cells on the arms of octopuses. Oh, one other thing: An octopus can use those arms to “taste” food, although not quite as people do. That’s because their arms can think for themselves. And they do all this without using their brains. Their eight powerful limbs can pluck crusty crabs from hiding spots.