Internal Seminar: Teresa Iglesias, Preliminary observations of the sleep-like state in the broadclub cuttlefish, Sepia latimanus

Internal Seminar

Speaker: Teresa Iglesias, Postdoctoral Researcher, Physics and Biology Unit (Jonathan Miller)

Title: Preliminary observations of the sleep-like state in the broadclub cuttlefish, Sepia latimanus

Abstract:

Sepia latimanus, the broadclub cuttlefish, has a sleep-like state. Preliminary observations, here at OIST, show that they experience short episodes of rapid chromatophore activation (body pattern changes) coupled with eye movement and arm twitching while in this sleep-like state, similar to Sepia officinalis. These episodes are cyclical in nature occurring multiple times during the sleep-like state and alternating with periods of “quiet” sleep-like behavior. If uninterrupted, animals cycle between this “quiet” sleep-like state and rapid chromatophore activity state for approximately 2 hours, after which time animals return to an active/awake state. This behavioral phenomenon has recently been observed in-ovo (as early as ~24 hours before hatch). S. latimanus therefore presents a unique opportunity to study complex sleep-like behavior in an invertebrate using an ontogenetic framework informed by concomitant neurodevelopmental changes through the use of X-ray microtomography.

Please join us for free pizza, soft drinks, and scientific discussion following the seminar, from 5-5:30pm.