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Article: Disruptive body patterning of cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) requires visual information regarding edges and contrast of objects in natural substrate backgrounds.
- Article from:
- The Biological Bulletin
- Article date:
- February 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Marine Biological Laboratory. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Cephalopods have a remarkable ability to change the color and pattern of their skin, and research has demonstrated that visual input regulates these changes. Cuttlefish skin can show 20-50 chromatophore patterns that are used for both camouflage and communication (1). Cuttlefish can change their body patterns within a fraction of a second because chromatophore organs are innervated directly from the brain (2, 3). Because of its speed and diversity, body patterning in cuttlefish is the most sophisticated form of adaptive coloration in the animal kingdom (4). Although many aspects of cephalopod vision are known (5), the visual features of a given substrate that evoke ...