The quick answer: an octopus has 3 hearts.
Among all cephalopods, the most interesting exhibit is the octopus. This is an extremely unusual mollusk, which stands out not only for its appearance (some of the tentacles alone are standing!), But also by the structure of the organism.
Octopuses have a short and at the same time soft body. The mantle is like a big leather bag. The oral opening is located at the place where the tentacles converge. There are two powerful jaws in it, resembling the beak of a parrot. In the throat, you can find a rainbow similar to that found in snails.
The number of tentacles is 8. These are a kind of hands that the clam uses. Between themselves, they are united by a thin membrane. Each tentacle has a number of suckers, their total number reaches 2000 pieces on all the tentacles of an adult octopus.
And the most interesting is the number of hearts in a given mollusk. There are three of them: the main thing and two gill. Blood through the body to all organs drives the main heart, while the gill fibers contract and push venous blood, which, enriched with oxygen, enters the atrium of the main heart.
The heart of an octopus beats infrequently, and the frequency of beats directly depends on the temperature of the water - the colder it is, the less often the heart beats. For example, at 22 ° C, the beat frequency does not exceed 50 beats per minute.
And octopus has blue blood due to the presence of hemocyanin, in which iron is replaced by copper.
How many octopus legs?
Of the eight tentacles, for which the octopus got its name, "legs" are only two. The remaining six tentacles can rather be called "hands." With the help of "legs" octopuses move along the bottom of the sea and climb on the underwater rocks. Animals do not swim very quickly, accelerating only in case of danger.
How are the octopuses?
Octopus is an unusual sea animal with long tentacles. By his appearance it is difficult to determine where the octopus has its head, mouth, eyes. Eight tentacle legs grow straight from the head, which is also the body of an octopus. He breathes through the gills, and can live for a long time without water.
The octopus has three whole hearts. One of them - the main thing - pumps blood throughout the body. The other two push it through the gills - they are called gill hearts.
The gills need an octopus to absorb oxygen from the water. It then enters the bloodstream and is spread throughout the body.
What do octopuses eat?
Octopuses are predators. They love to eat crabs, fish. Octopuses seize their prey with tentacles and hold them with special suckers. The poison of the octopus falls into the victim's wound, and it no longer resists, after which the predator eats the prey. The throat of an octopus resembles a “grater”, in which food is ground to improve its absorption.
Amazing animal
The spruts have a unique structure and are very different from other animals:
- The oval body of the octopus has no skeleton, in texture it resembles soft rubber.
- On the head of an animal there are 2 eyes, possessing a very high photosensitivity, thanks to which the octopus perfectly sees even in the impenetrable darkness. This ability is not even in cats and owls.
- Eight tentacles are growing from the trunk of an octopus, and scientists are still arguing - legs or arms. Each "hand" has more than 100 suckers, with which the octopus holds its victims.
- Octopuses are fired from the enemy with a dark liquid - poisonous ink.
- They know how to throw off their tentacles, like lizards' tails, and change their body color, like chameleons.
Internal structure
No less surprising and the internal structure of the octopus. Like other animals, sprints have a brain, glands, stomach, and liver. Interestingly, the blood of blue spruts, this color gives it a copper compound.
But what is most surprising - octopus has 3 whole hearts! One of them is the main thing. It consists of 2 atria and 1 ventricle, makes up to 36 beats per minute and drives blood throughout the body. The other 2 hearts are extra, they are smaller, push blood to the gills, so they are also called “gill”. These 2 extra hearts per hour drive over 400 liters of blood!
Now you know that in the body of an octopus beats as many as 3 hearts. No other animal in the world has such a miracle.
