Motor control: the importance of stiffness.
An octopus brings food grasped by a tentacle to its mouth by bending the tentacle around a joint formed by stiffened distal and proximal tentacle muscles, and thus may use motor control strategies analogous to those in animals with articulated limbs.
Hooper
Scott L
SL
Department of Biological Sciences, Ohio University, Athens, 45701, USA. hooper@ohiou.edu
D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D009132:Muscles / Q000502:physiology; D049831:Octopodiformes / Q000502:physiology*