On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 04:34:39 +0000 (UTC), hronkko{at}hytti.uku.fi
(Henkka) wrote:

>Hi,
>
>As the squid has been utilized much in neuroscientific studies, I
>wonder if something is known about how the brain controls the
>coloration of the skin. One might actually think that stimulating
>certain parts of the brain with electrodes would result in color
>changes. Of course it is possible that only the workings of individual
>neurons have been studied, as studying the organization of the squid
>brain probably isn't seen as useful as studying brains more similar to
>ours.
>
>Henri

There has been work on squid color control.  Go to the US National
Library of Medicine's PubMed at
  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi
and search for "squid chromatophore control".  You will get some very
useful references.  Look at any one of them and click on "related
articles" to get a lot more.

The control of color pattern in squid and octopus is really quite
astonishing.  Also the brain of these cephalopod molluscs is quite
elaborate and complex.  The lack of work is not because it is not
"useful" -- this is a fascinating problem that most comparative
neurobiologists would love to investigate. One problem is that it is
technically very difficult to work with these slimy, oozy animals that
have no solid body parts to hold onto.  Another is that  "pattern of
color" is a difficult concept to measure or describe.  Arthropods and
vertebrates, with rigid skeletons and  with behavior that can be
quantified in terms of specific angle of movement of discrete joints,
are much easier to deal with.
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