Octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish are increasingly used in neuroscience research, and recent regulatory changes are beginning to recognise their welfare needs as cognitively sophisticated invertebrates.
The EU decision to extend welfare protections to cephalopods was based on evidence of their cognitive sophistication and likely capacity for pain — a decision other regulatory regimes have been slow to follow. Octopuses in particular show behavioural complexity that rivals vertebrates: they solve multi-step problems, recognise individual humans, use tools, and show contextual learning. These capacities suggest a rich mental life that laboratory procedures should respect. The challenge is that standard refinements developed for vertebrate welfare do not translate simply to cephalopods with their distributed nervous system and unique biology. Dedicated welfare research for this taxon is urgently needed.