The Digestive Tract of Cephalopods: at the Interface Between Physiology and Ecology

The collection of papers included in this Research Topic represents the outcome of some of the activities of the COST Action FA1301, CephsInAction. It emerged from a series of presentations delivered during a workshop in Cascais (Portugal; November 24th, 2015), and from the research activities carried out during Short Term Scientific Missions supported through the COST Action FA1301. The overall aim is to fill some lacunae in knowledge of the digestive tract of cephalopod molluscs. In contrast to other areas of cephalopod biology such as the central nervous system and behavior (e.g., Marini et al., 2017; Nakajima et al.; O’Brien et al.; Shigeno et al.) and the visual system (see Hanke and Osorio), relatively little research has been done on this topic during the last 30 years. Cephalopods are active marine predators counting more than 800 species. Understanding the physiological adaptations of these fascinating and complex molluscs poses important challenges for several disciplines. Knowledge of the normal functioning (i.e., appetitive drive, signaling satiety, storage and coordinated oro-anal movement of ingested food and digesta, extra- and intra-cellular digestion, epithelial and intra-cellular transport, metabolism, and incorporation of nutrients in the tissues) of the digestive system has wide ranging implications for fisheries, aquaculture, and for the care and welfare of cephalopods in the laboratory and in public displays. Alterations in digestive tract functionality are also a sensitive indicator of gastrointestinal and systemic infections, disease, and external stressors in the broadest sense. Most of the available knowledge on the cephalopod “gut” and physiology of digestion is based on assumptions by analogy with the vertebrate digestive system.

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