Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have found that squid are covered from head to tail in sensory hair cells remarkably similar to those that make human hearing possible, phys.org reported on October 3.

Scientists had long known that squid carry cells with tiny hair-like protrusions on their heads and arms, echoing the hair cells of the mammalian ear. The new study maps hundreds more of these cells across the entire body, the first complete body-wide charting of squid lateral lines.

Unlike fish, squid seem to regulate hair bundle length to tune their cells to different frequencies, much like the human ear. The skin of the squid seems to act like a human ear, the researchers concluded.

“Often, when a child is born deaf or a hearing person loses their hearing, it is the hair bundle that has been damaged,” said researcher Brian McDermott. “So, studying the squid’s hair bundle holds promise for understanding how hearing loss occurs.”

The findings were published in Current Biology. Because human hair bundles cannot regenerate, damage to them is a leading cause of permanent hearing loss. Squid could become a new model for studying how hearing works and fails.