Northwest Dive Club

Hi
It seems an oft-quoted fact recently is that octos have 9 brains. I was trying to research that, but there seem to be some internet results that seem to indicate this is not the case. Anybody know?

I don't know about nine brains, but:
Octopuses have three hearts. Two of the hearts work exclusively to move blood beyond the animal’s gills, while the third keeps circulation flowing for the organs. The organ heart actually stops beating when the octopus swims, explaining the species’ penchant for crawling rather than swimming, which exhausts them.
Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-n ... So6hE7Q.99

Cats with nine lives are another rumor

Each arm has a large ganglia that controls that arm, so they sorta do- with 8 arms that bend in every direction, that's a lot of processing for the main brain to have to deal with. So a lot of the stuff is subcontracted out to the ganglia to handle. The main brain is probably the only place where any real thinking goes on.
Crabs have something similar, with a big ganglion in the body that handles coordination of the appendages. But visual and olfactory info is received and processed by the brain in the head.
Cool thing about cephalopod brains is that they are the fusion of two ganglia, one above and one below the esophagus. So anything they swallow goes through the middle of their brain as it passes down the esophagus.
And you thought YOUR ice cream headaches were bad...

Good -- and funny -- information!
Thanks!

Wish I could LIKE Greg's answer...but that feature seems to have gone by the wayside with the 'upgrade'.