Amodio Piero, Andrews Paul, Salemme Marinella, Ponte Giovanna, Fiorito Graziano
Associazione Cephalopod Research, CephRes-ONLUS, Napoli, Italy.
ALTEX. 2014;31(4):494-9. doi: 10.14573/altex.1401282. Epub 2014 Jun 12.
The willingness of the cephalopod mollusc Octopus vulgaris to attack a live crab is traditionally used as a method to assess the overall health and welfare of octopuses in the laboratory. This method requires placing a crab in the home tank of an animal, measuring the time (latency) taken for the octopus to initiate an attack and withdrawing the crab immediately prior to capture. The same crab is commonly used to assess multiple octopuses as part of daily welfare assessment. Growing concern for the welfare of crustaceans and a review of all laboratory practices for the care and welfare of cephalopods following the inclusion of this taxon in 2010/63/EU prompted a study of the utility of an artificial crab to replace a live crab in the assessment of octopus health. On consecutive days O. vulgaris (N=21) were presented with a live, a dead or an artificial crab, and the latency to attack measured. Despite differences in the predatory performance towards the three different crab alternatives, octopuses readily attacked the artificial (and the dead) crab, showing that they can generalize and respond appropriately towards artificial prey. Researchers should consider using an artificial crab to replace the use of a live crab as part of the routine health assessment of O. vulgaris.
普通章鱼这种头足类软体动物攻击活蟹的意愿，传统上被用作评估实验室中章鱼整体健康和福利状况的一种方法。该方法需要将一只螃蟹放入动物的饲养缸中，测量章鱼发起攻击所需的时间（潜伏期），并在捕获前立即将螃蟹撤走。同一只螃蟹通常作为日常福利评估的一部分，用于评估多只章鱼。随着对甲壳类动物福利的日益关注，以及在2010/63/EU将该分类群纳入后对所有头足类动物护理和福利实验室操作的审查，促使人们对在评估章鱼健康时使用人工蟹替代活蟹的效用进行研究。连续几天，向21只普通章鱼分别展示一只活蟹、一只死蟹或一只人工蟹，并测量攻击潜伏期。尽管对三种不同蟹类替代品的捕食表现存在差异，但章鱼很容易攻击人工蟹（和死蟹），这表明它们能够对人工猎物进行概括并做出适当反应。研究人员应考虑使用人工蟹来替代活蟹，作为普通章鱼常规健康评估的一部分。
