FAQs

If the sole reason you want to stop eating cephalopods is because they’re intelligent: fish, crabs, lobsters, pigs, cows, chickens, and other commonly-consumed animals are all smart in the same ways cephalopods are. While animal welfare is extremely important, animal food products are accessible and familiar sources of protein for people throughout the world. Pretending otherwise, or trying to guilt people into becoming vegetarian or vegan, will not lead to sustained change.

If you want to stop consuming cephalopod products entirely, that’s great! However, in general I encourage consumption of ethically-sourced animal products whenever possible (importantly, possible includes affordable and accessible!). In practice, this means 1) minimizing consumption of factory-farmed animal products, and 2) purchasing from local farms, responsibly hunting or fishing, and considering meat/seafood alternatives when you can.

It is important to ensure that your seafood is sustainably sourced, as overfishing has devastated ocean ecosystems. However, Seaspiracy got it wrong: it is possible to eat seafood sustainably, and several initiatives exist to help you do this. Throughout the world, the Marine Stewardship Council certifies sustainable seafood products. In the USA, Monterey Bay Aquarium publishes Seafood Watch consumer guides. In the UK, the Marine Conservation Society publishes the Good Fish Guide (while similar initiatives exist elsewhere, I have only linked guides I know and trust in countries I am familiar with; please get in touch if you are aware of other guides). Additionally, choose wild-caught rather than farm-raised (aquaculture) octopus, squid, and cuttlefish due to substantial welfare concerns and lack of oversight.

Cephalopods are the closest thing we have to “intelligent” alien life on earth. Despite the fact that the last common ancestor of humans and cephalopods lived over 530 million years ago, cephalopods have very “human-like” intelligence — for example, they can remember the past (and even form false memories!), anticipate the future, exhibit self-control, solve complex problems, and may even play. Cephalopods are also the only animals with flexible and rapid dynamic camouflage, changing their skin color and texture in milliseconds. Together, these two traits make cephalopods the best group of animals to help scientists grapple with a variety of questions.

1. Cephalopods are evolutionarily distant. Almost all of the other animals we think of as “smart” or “intelligent” are vertebrates, and most of them are mammals. However, these animals (e.g., primates, elephants, dolphins, birds, and even ants and bees) are all highly social. For a long time, we thought intelligence evolved due to sociality. Cephalopods challenge this convention and provide insight into alternative pathways for the evolution of intelligence.
   
2. Cephalopods are super smart. By studying cephalopods, we challenge long-standing ideas about what (and who) is intelligent, and even the definition of intelligence itself. Similar research has led to the revision of animal welfare policy in the UK, and raised broader questions about sentience and consciousness. In addition to continuing these efforts, I hope my work helps shift perspectives and leads to wider recognition that intelligence isn’t “one-size-fits-all,” in animals and in humans — there are many different ways to be smart. This matters a lot to me as a person with ADHD and Tourette Syndrome, because people with neurodevelopmental disorders and other learning differences are often written off as “stupid” for factors out of our control.
   
3. Cephalopods are charasmatic, and fascinate people from all walks of life. They’re great ocean ambassadors! Learning more about octopus, squid, and cuttlefish can motivate people to care more about the ocean and issues affecting it such as overfishing and climate change, which ultimately leads to greater public involvement in marine stewardship and conservation efforts.
   
4. Cephalopod camouflage is uniquely rapid and flexible. Studying camouflage in general can tell us a lot about ecology (including predator-prey relationships) and visual perception, but cephalopod camouflage is so complex that it can answer long-outstanding questions in these fields. It can also serve as a basis for bioinspired technology, including robotics and artificial intelligence systems. If we understand how cephalopod camouflage works “under the hood” or “behind the scenes” from both neural and cognitive perspectives, we open the door to countless cutting-edge applications and technologies, as well as a better understanding of camouflage in general and cephalopod biology/ecology.