has soma location has soma location has synaptic IO in region central nervous system neuron octopus cell of the mammalian cochlear nucleus Octopus cells respond only at the onset of a broad-band simple tonal stimulus and form a pathway to the superior paraolivary nucleus and to the ventral nucleus of the lateral lemniscus. This term is restricted to the mammalian cochlear nucleus to disambiguate for cells of octopus. A neuron in the posterior ventral cochlear nucleus that is distinguished by their long, thick and tentacle-shaped dendrites that typically emanate from one side of the cell body. posteroventral cochlear nucleus superior paraolivary nucleus