Octopus movement: push right, go left.
Octopus arms have essentially infinite degrees of freedom. New research shows that, despite this potentially great complexity, to locomote octopuses simply elongate one or more arms, thus pushing the body in the opposite direction, and do so without activating the arms in an ordered pattern.
Department of Biological Sciences, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701, USA. Electronic address: hooper@ohio.edu.
Scott L
SL
Hooper
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D005121:Extremities / Q000502:physiology*; D008124:Locomotion; D049831:Octopodiformes / Q000502:physiology*