If ocean temperatures continue to rise at projected rates, octopuses may become blinded by heat stress and struggle to survive by the end of the century, according to a study in Global Change Biology. While previous research has suggested that octopuses are highly adaptable, new research finds that heat stress caused by global warming may cause vision impairment and increase the risk of death for pregnant women and their fetuses. Researchers say blindness can have a huge impact on octopuses, whose survival depends heavily on vision. Seventy percent of the octopus's brain is dedicated to processing vision, which is crucial for communication and detecting predators and prey. The researchers' experiments found that octopuses living at 25°C produced fewer visual proteins.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.17255
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/10/octopus-eyesight-loss-ocean-temperatures-global-heating
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