Behavioural and immunological responses to an immune challenge in Octopus vulgaris

Abstract

Behavioural and immunological changes consequent to stress and infection are largely unexplored in cephalopods, despite the wide employment of species such as Octopus vulgaris in studies that require their manipulation and prolonged maintenance in captivity. Here we explore O. vulgaris behavioural and immunological (i.e. haemocyte number and serum lysozyme activity) responses to an in vivo immune challenge with Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Behavioural changes of immune-treated and sham-injected animals were observed in both sight-allowed and isolated conditions, i.e. visually interacting or not with a conspecific. Immune stimulation primarily caused a significant increase in the number of circulating haemocytes 4h after the treatment, while serum lysozyme activity showed a less clear response. However, the effect of LPS on the circulating haemocytes begins to vanish 24h after injection. Our observations indicate a significant change in behaviour consequent to LPS administration, with treated octopuses exhibiting a decrease of general activity pattern when kept in the isolated condition. A similar decrease was not observed in the sight-allowed condition, where we noticed a specific significant reduction only in the time spent to visually interact with the conspecific. Overall, significant, but lower, behavioural and immunological effects of injection were detected also in sham-injected animals, suggesting a non-trivial susceptibility to manipulation and haemolymph sampling. Our results gain importance in light of changes of the regulations for the use of cephalopods in scientific procedures that call for the prompt development of guidelines, covering many aspects of cephalopod provision, maintenance and welfare.