QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by WELLS, M. J. Articles by WELLS, J. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by WELLS, M. J. Articles by WELLS, J.

Journal of Experimental Biology 131,175-187 (1987)
Published by Company of Biologists 1987

Blood Flow and Pressure Changes in Exercising Octopuses (Octopus Vulgaris)

M. J. WELLS ¹, G. G. DUTHIE ², D. F. HOULIHAN ³, P. J.S. SMITH ¹, and J. WELLS ¹

¹ Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge UK
² Rowett Research Institute, University of Aberdeen UK
³ Department of Zoology, University of Aberdeen UK

Pressure and flow were recorded from the dorsal aorta of freely moving Octopus vulgaris at rest and in exercise. Mean blood pressure, the amplitude of pressure pulses and flow all double as the animal moves about. Frequency changes little in exercise, indeed the increased pulses may be associated with a small drop in heartbeat frequency. There is little or no scope for expansion of arteriovenous oxygen content difference. So the increase in cardiac output necessitated by exercise must be achieved almost solely by an increase in the stroke volume of the systemic heart.

Jet propulsion is accompanied by cardiac arrest. Measurements of internal mantle pressures during jetting and of the pressure pulses generated by peristalsis of the great veins suggest that the venous system is incapable of returning blood against the gradients produced by the rise in mean mantle pressure. Since the oxygen debt that can be sustained by Octopus is quite small (22 ml O₂ kg^-1), jet-propelled movement is impossible for distances of more than a few metres.

Problems of the maintenance of a circulation in an animal with a high metabolic rate and the basic body plan of a mollusc are discussed, and the situation in squid is compared with that in octopuses.

Key words: Octopus, exercise, blood flow, blood pressure

Accepted on May 20, 1987

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. L. Huffard Locomotion by Abdopus aculeatus (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae): walking the line between primary and secondary defenses J. Exp. Biol., October 1, 2006; 209(19): 3697 - 3707. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. J. King and S. A. Adamo The ventilatory, cardiac and behavioural responses of resting cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis L.) to sudden visual stimuli J. Exp. Biol., March 15, 2006; 209(6): 1101 - 1111. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. J. King, S. M. Henderson, M. H. Schmidt, A. G. Cole, and S. A. Adamo Using ultrasound to understand vascular and mantle contributions to venous return in the cephalopod Sepia officinalis L. J. Exp. Biol., June 1, 2005; 208(11): 2071 - 2082. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]