Ocean acidification may be shrinking the brains of the world’s most intelligent invertebrates

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By EurekAlert! 

Excerpt: An ongoing research project exploring the effects of rising levels of oceanic CO2 on squid neurology reveals that exposure to future levels of ocean acidification could shrink their brain volume by around 50%. This severe brain shrinkage appears to be most pronounced in the areas that interpret visual information, correlating with significant reductions in normal feeding behaviours and suggesting serious consequences for the future of squid and other cephalopods. ...To investigate the effects of future ocean acidification on the squid neurology, ...Dr Allen and project lead Dr Yung-Che Tseng ...at Academia Sinica’s Marine Research Station reared the squid in one of two parallel water tanks: one representing the modern oceans (pH 8.2) and one representing the oceans in the year 2100 under a predicted climate change scenario (pH 7.8). After 90 days, the squid were removed and their heads were preserved for visual analysis with diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI).... 

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