Title: The amazing world of octopus neuroarchitecture: proto-Internet in the brain of cephalopods

Amazing creatures live in the depths of the ocean - cephalopods, in particular octopuses. These intelligent creatures not only possess unique abilities for camouflage and adaptation, but also boast a strikingly complex nervous system that far surpasses that of many other invertebrates. Their neuroarchitecture is so unusual that scientists call it the "proto-Internet."What is so remarkable about the nervous system of octopuses? Let's try to figure out this fascinating question by looking into the brains of these amazing creatures underwater.Octopuses are one of the most intelligent invertebrates on Earth. Their walnut-sized brains are incredibly efficient and densely packed with nerve cells, the number of which reaches 500 million. For comparison, flies have only about 100 thousand neurons. Cephalopods have flexible and intelligent tentacles, each of which is controlled by a local nervous system. These subsystems coordinate incredibly well with each other, forming a kind of primitive prototype of the Internet.The decentralized nervous system of octopuses When we imagine the nervous system, we usually imagine it as a hierarchical tree headed by a central brain. But octopuses operate on a completely different principle. Their nervous system is distributed between the brain and tentacles and is not a tree-like structure, but a complex neural network with numerous connections between individual nodes.Each octopus tentacle has about 50,000 neurons forming a local nervous system. These ganglia allow the tentacles to act quite independently from each other and from the central brain. They are capable of performing complex movements, responding to touch, and detecting and grabbing prey. So, the tentacles can hunt even when disconnected from the brain.Such a distributed architecture with elements of autonomy and redundancy provides octopuses with incredible flexibility and resistance to damage. The loss of part of the ganglia and connections does not lead to complete disability of the animal, as it would be in a creature with a hierarchical nervous system, where a single brain is responsible for all processes.Coordination and cooperation of local systems Despite the autonomy of individual ganglia, the nervous system of octopuses is by no means a set of disparate subsystems. Local nerve centers perfectly coordinate their work, demonstrating coherence and consistency.For example, when an octopus grabs prey with its tentacles, these actions are not a random sum of independent movements. Instead, we observe a carefully coordinated strategy in which the tentacles act as a single unit. Some capture the target, others "slow down" its movement, others control the orientation and torque, and others pull the animal victim towards the mouth.Such an organization resembles the work of a dispersed computer network, where independent nodes exchange data in real time, coordinate their actions and work on a common task. Local systems compete and cooperate with each other, finding optimal solutions and ways to coordinate without centralized control.The complexity and evolution of the octopus neuroarchitecture raises the question: how could such a complex and decentralized nervous system evolve? How did such an advanced proto-network with extensive coordination capabilities of local systems form from the primitive neuroarchitecture peculiar to invertebrates?Scientists believe that the distributed nature of the nervous system was a consequence of the unique evolutionary strategy of octopuses. Due to the size of the body of cephalopods, the development of the central nervous system, as in vertebrates, was ineffective. A large trunk requires long-term transmission of signals along nerve fibers to remote limbs, which increases the latency of control.Therefore, evolution took a different path, forming an increasing brain and developing complex local systems in tentacles with extensive possibilities of autonomy. This allowed us to maintain the speed of reactions and flexibility of management. At the same time, complex connections and data exchange between the ganglia provided the possibility of coordinated actions and consistency.Conclusion:Indeed, the nervous system of octopuses is a wonderful example of how evolution sometimes finds non-standard solutions. The unique architecture with elements of decentralization, autonomy of local systems and well-coordinated coordination of nodes allows these creatures to demonstrate amazing intellectual abilities and adaptability without a single central brain. Perhaps studying the "proto-Internet" in the brains of cephalopods will help us advance our understanding of complex parallel architectures and future computer networks. Argo-drive PVC Inflatable Boats: Lightweight, Versatile, and Adventure-Ready