The cephalopods include the octopus, nautilus, squid
and cuttlefish that are the most highly developed of all invertebrate
groups. This class of molluscs have well developed nervous system,
brain and eyes, with octopus being the subject of experiments where they
successfully solved problems.
Most cephalopods 'live hard and die young'
having fast growth rates and only a 1-3 year life-span.
There are hundreds of cephalopod species worldwide in all
undersea habitats, and surprisingly few inhabiting the coral reefs.
Dr Mark Norman and
Andy Dunstan, head the Undersea Explorer cephalopod project - a non
profit study of Australian cephalopods funded by the Gro-Sea Foundation. Dr
Norman has studied cephalopods throughout the Western Pacific and has commented
on how little the group is known to science. He's personally discovered more
than 100 new species, 44 of them in Australia.
This
project aims to look at octopus species and cuttlefish along the
northern Great Barrier Reefs and at Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea.
Included in the overall cephalopod project is the ongoing study of the nautilus population in the depths of Osprey
Reef - a capture-record-tag-release program has been underway for five
years.
