08-18-2015, 10:36 PM
So say scientists:
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/octopus-genetic-code-reveals-alien-creature-170016745.html#reG4AgM
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/octopus-genetic-code-reveals-alien-creature-170016745.html#reG4AgM
Quote:A new map of the octopus genetic code has revealed a creature so strange that it could be an "alien", say scientists.
The first whole cephalopod genome sequence shows a striking level of complexity with 33,000 protein-coding genes identified, more than in a human.
Octopus DNA is highly rearranged - like cards shuffled and reshuffled in a pack - containing numerous so-called "jumping genes" that can leap around the genome.
US r esearcher Dr Clifton Ragsdale, from the University of Chicago, said: "The octopus appears to be utterly different from all other animals, even other molluscs, with its eight prehensile arms, its large brain and its clever problem-solving abilities.