News Animals

Octopus, squid and cuttlefish arms evolved to ‘taste’ different compounds

The different palates may be tied to each species’ hunting style

A photo of a pale yellow octopus taken from below looking up at the animal on a black background.

Squid, cuttlefish and octopuses, like this California two-spot octopus, use specialized proteins in their suckers to “taste” with their arms.

Anik Grearson

By Tina Hesman Saey

People have different tastes. It turns out that octopuses, squid and cuttlefish do too.

These soft-bodied cephalopods have proteins on suckers along their tentacles that allow them to “taste” by touching objects. But the species have evolved to detect different compounds, researchers report in two studies published in the April 13 Nature.