The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-04-19
THE OCTOPUS AIT THE BERLIN
AGUARRUM.

At the Berlin Aquarium there are several
live specimens of the octopus These ami
mails have been for some time in the
aquarium, and seem TO thrive. They are
very lively and exhibit decidedly healthy
appetite.
The cuttlefsh family comprises several
species, some of which have distinct ex-
terror shells, like mollusCa, while others are
entirely naked and have interior bone-Eke
formations. This group, to which the subject
of our article belongs, forms link between
the vertebrates and the mollusca. The
only remnants of an exterior shell in the
octopus are two horny masses embedded in
the flesh near the mouth
The entire structure of the long, oval
body of the octopus with its rough, warty
surface, somewhat resembles that of verte-
brate animals. The body is symmetrical,
both sides being equally developed. Tho
nervous and circuiatory systems and the
blood corpuscles are also analogous TO those
of vertebrates. The eyes are well deveL
oped and protrude at the sides of the body.
Adjoining them are the external respira-
tory organs. Eight muscular structures
surround the mouth. These arms are
nearly five times as long as the body, and
are supplied with two rows of sucking
disks. The entrance of the mouth is sup
piled with two horny jaws, working verti-
cally like birds bill The tongue is
very large and feshy, partially covered
with recurved spines.
The brain is internally protected by
sheet of cartilage The backbone consists
of shell-ike formation, well known as
the cutie bone. A feature peculiar to all
species of this family consists of an in
terror gland secreting q brown liquid.
which, being expelled by the animal,
diffuses very easily in water and renders
it cloudy and Opaque. This brown liquid
is employed as water color, which is
known as sepia.
The octopus moves with great rapidity
by means of its arms and the violent ex-
pulsion of quantity of water from the
respiratory gills. When chased it instantly
discolors the water by the expulsion of the
inky liquid and makes its escape, or, by
means of its long arms it drags its body into
some narrow crevice, from which it can
only be extracted by great force Although
frequently left in shallow places when the
tide retires, they are nevertheless not very
easily caught. In the dark they are slight
ly phosphorescent. They are all carniyor-
GUS, and very voracious, swallowing an
incredible number of small fish and shell
fish, which they seize with their arms,
holding them by means of their suckers,
and introduce into the mouth.
There are now known about 200 species
of the group of CepbaIopoda, and of the
octopus family about 40, the ordinary cut
tleish being the most common. They in.
habit the seas of the moderate and tropical
zones, and frequent principally rocky
shores. They abound particularly in the Med
iterranean in Smyrna, Santiago, Naples, and
other places, they are regularly exposed at
the markets IS an article of food. They
are ordinarily only few inches in length,
but specimens of five and six feet in length
are not rare, and there are numerous cases
on record of arms separated from some
specimens which measured from ten to
twenty five feet