These Cells Suck

What am I looking at?

This is a fluorescently stained image of a cross section through a single sucker on the arm of a newly born octopus. The nuclei – stained blue, light green, or light pink – highlight the cell bodies of all the cells (1). Various types of vesicles are green (2), highlighting the structure of each cell. The mitochondria and some other internal cellular membranes are stained red/pink (3).

Biology in the background

Octopuses have eight arms, also called tentacles, and the bottom of each one is covered with muscular suckers that can grasp tightly onto a wide variety of surfaces. They use these suckers while hunting to pry open shellfish and other crustaceans, to grasp larger marine animals such as fish, and to help squeeze themselves into tight spaces so they can ambush prey. They also allow octopuses to grasp rocks, coral, and other underwater surfaces when they’re hiding from predators. Octopuses have even been known to use their suckers to pick up rocks and shells and use them like a suit of armor to protect themselves.

The top of this sucker is about 300 micrometers across, or roughly four times larger than the width of a human hair.

Technique

This image was created using confocal microscopy.