and member states are required to transpose this
decision into national legislations by November 2012 and to apply it
by January 2013 (2010/63/EU, Article 61). As a consequence, a set of
guidelines, covering many aspects of cephalopod provision, maintenance
and welfare, together with criteria for pain and distress identification,
needs to be promptly developed Defence mechanisms in
cephalopods are largely unexplored, despite the wide employment of
species such as O. vulgaris in behavioural studies that often entail
prolonged period of maintenance in captivity [23]. Thus, a comprehensive
insight on cephalopod responses in relation to stress or infection
becomes particularly prominent.