FORGET about those intellectual dolphins and crooning whales. New research which concludes that the squid and octopus are highly intelligent marine creatures will come as no surprise in Kerry, kingdom of Fungi and other wonders of the deep.
The research, published in the current issue of New Scientist magazine, suggests the cephalopods - class name for the squid and octopus - have an alien intelligence, and think very differently to humans. Though it says that some scientists still disagree, the evidence supports the view long held by Mr Kevin Flannery, Department of the Marine fish quality officer and director of Mara Beo, the aquarium in Dingle, Co Kerry.
His octopuses have shown that they are no slouches by opening screw top jars containing live crabs. "Actually, we had to stop giving them the jars, because of protests by German visitors who were concerned about cruelty to the crabs," Mr Flannery told The Irish Times yesterday. "But you always feel you are being watched when near their tanks. They have an intellect, they bare versatile, agile and vain, for they are constantly preening themselves.
In the New Scientist report, American neuroscientist Mr Ted Bullock of the University of California in San Diego says the octopus brain is anatomically complex. Mr Roger Hanlon, a cephalopod expert at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts, says that scientists are mystified by the large size of the brains. It may be that the animal group applies behaviour which requires many neurons.
One example of this is the way cephalopods can alter appearance - avoid being eaten, adopting patterns that range from body speckles to tiger stripes. The more distinctive patterns are used as signals during courtship and hunting.
The "flashiest" species are like "swimming slide shows", according to the report. One, the Caribbean reef squid, has at least 35 wardrobe changes.
Some researchers still maintain that further work will discount the intelligence theory, and that the creatures have been anthropomorphised by scientists seduced by their otherwordly stare. However, Mr Nathan Tublitz of the University of Oregon says researchers have just not come up with the right set of experiments to prove the intelligence theory - due to limited human intelligence, he says.
Octopuses have been known to climb out of tanks to feed on other fish, Mr Flannery says. Such marine life puts science fiction in the ha'penny place, he points out. "Steven Spielberg might keep that in mind and pay us a visit when he is filming in Trambre."
