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The Cuttlefish, a Master of Camouflage, Reveals a New Trick
- z2 9y agoUnderstated here is that cuttlefish manage to match their surrounding's color while being color-blind, in the sense of lacking color receptors. It's thought that their pupils have such wild shapes because they can somehow use chromatic aberration blur patterns to distinguish colors. See http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/07/01/1524578113 http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2016/07/01/1524578113
- VohuMana 9y agoI already thought cuttlefish were awesome but reading that they are using chromatic aberration to distinguish colors blows my mind! Thanks for sharing!
- aaroninsf 9y agoTIL cuttlefish not seeing magenta is more interesting than many animals' not being able to see magenta.
- nradov 9y agoMost aquatic animals see longer wavelength colors poorly because water filters out that light just a few meters deep. Below the surface everything looks shades of blue or gray.
- aaroninsf 9y ago* looks to us :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_it_Like_to_Be_a_Bat%3F https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_it_Like_to_Be_a_Bat%3F came to mind
- evolve2017 9y agoI'm not an expert, but this seems like an area of debate. See a reply to that article: http://www.pnas.org/content/113/45/E6908 http://www.pnas.org/content/113/45/E6908
- bitwize 9y agoCuttlefish are amazing -- tiny Cthulhus of the deep, as they drive their prey mad before devouring it (https://youtu.be/YcpzubpIhtI https://youtu.be/YcpzubpIhtI). Learning more about their ruthlessly efficient means of camouflage and deception just makes them more awe-inspiring.
- KhanMahGretsch 9y agoDitto the rest of the cephalopod family, the ingenuity demonstrated by octopuses is well-documented but endlessly fascinating!
- bitwize 9y agoOctopus brains are substantially different from mammalian, reptile, or even bird brains, having more innervation in its arms than its head, and no need for a brain-body map like we have -- and yet octopuses not only display intelligence, but social behavior that's recognizable to us as affection or hostility. An octopus will nuzzle the hand of a familiar, well-liked human with its tentacles, or squirt water at a despised human from its tank. If deep-sea creatures are the closest we've seen to aliens, then the behavior of octopuses suggests we may be able to establish social common ground with intelligent extraterrestrials should we ever encounter them.
- kentosi 9y agoAmazing. I knew they could change colour, but to think that they can even adjust the texture of of their skin to match surrounding coral... consider me mind-blown.
- lobster_johnson 9y agoThe cuttlefish is my favourite creature to come across while scuba diving. I've seen them settle down on the seabed next to some vegetation and just disappear. It turns green and fuzzy, and sends up little tendrils that look like seagrass and semi-translucent blobs of algae. Even knowing that it's there, it's usually impossible to see that it's a cuttlefish. YouTube videos don't do it justice; I've never found any videos that show the level of camouflage it can do. (The video in the article, though, is amazing in the level of detail shown.)
- samplatt 9y agoThe best part is if you remain almost motionless, sometimes their curiosity overcomes their fear and they come up to check you out. I've been more struck by intelligence in an animal than with cuttlefish.
- TheSpiceIsLife 9y agoI did a couple of dives out of Whyalla, South Australia, which, at the time, about twenty years ago, I was told, was the only known cuttlefish breeding ground. I must have seen about a squillion cuttlefish and cuttlefish eggs.
- wittedhaddock 9y agoPeter Godfrey-Smith also writes about this in Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness
- er0l 9y agoGreat read, highly recommend!
- furiousjulius 9y agoOff topic but cuttlefish bones can be used for casting jewelry/other metal objects.
- anitil 9y agoInteresting. While we're off topic, they're also delicious. Slightly sweeter than squid and I find less prone to going tough. They take a little bit of preparation but you get quite a good size meal out of a single one. As a bonus they grow quickly so are a fairly low impact species to take.
- tzs 9y agoThey are also used as a calcium supplement for animals: "Today, cuttlebones are commonly used as calcium-rich dietary supplements for caged birds, chinchillas, hermit crabs, reptiles, shrimp, and snails. It is not for human consumption" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuttlebone#Human_uses https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuttlebone#Human_uses
- minusf 9y agoa recent episode of the "in our time" podcast discussed these creatures. and they are prominent in blue planet 2 as well.
- sofetch 9y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDwOi7HpHtQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDwOi7HpHtQ Here are True Facts about the Cuttlefish
- tzs 9y agoOn a nature documentary whose name I don't recall [1], they showed a great example of a cuttlefish disguising himself. There was a larger than average male with a harem of females, and there was a smaller than average male that wanted to mate with the females, but was nowhere near strong enough to beat the big male in combat. So the small male took advantage of his small size. He took on the appearance of a female, and approached the large male as a female would. The large male was fooled, and accepted the small male into the harem. As the large male continued vigilantly watching for approaching challengers, the little male mated with all the harem females right under the big male. [1] I almost certainly saw it on one of the Nat Geo channels, one of the Discovery channels, BBC America, or PBS. Edit: a bit of Googling turned it up. It was in the BBC documentary series "Life" from 2009. It's this segment: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p005bpsl http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p005bpsl I misremembered a little. The large male only had one female, not a harem, when the small male joined.
- mistermann 9y agoI have it on my machine at home I'm quite sure, will post the name later.
- mistermann 9y agoPBS.NOVA.2007.Cuttlefish.Kings.of.Camouflage
- tomonocle 9y agoThat was in the recent (and incredible) Blue Planet II from the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4tfgmTgfJHlJpvvMnRlq9pG/filming-the-giant-cuttlefish-aggregation http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4tfgmTgfJHlJpvvMnRl...
- ralusek 9y ago"Sneaky male" is often the term for such strategies in nature. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_mating_strategy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_mating_strategy
- 9y ago
- reimertz 9y agoI think it's valid to point out that this reaction was caused by cutting one of it's nerves that controlled skin color.
- brlewis 9y agoI saw this while riding the train to Boston with my daughter who is a volunteer educator at New England Aquarium. They have dwarf cuttlefish on display there now.