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Article: Cuttlefish cue visually on area--not shape or aspect ratio--of light objects in the substrate to produce disruptive body patterns for camouflage.
- Article from:
- The Biological Bulletin
- Article date:
- October 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 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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Chuan-Chin Chiao (1)
Cephalopods have at least 20 body patterns for camouflage, yet these can be organized into four categories: uniform, stipple, mottle, and disruptive (1). Among them, disruptive coloration is probably the most striking because it breaks up the animal's body outline by visual deception (2). Cuttlefish produce (by direct neural control of chromatophores) an array of white skin components that produce a disruptive coloration on their bodies, and this helps them achieve camouflage as it is defined by Endler (3), "A colour or pattern is cryptic if it resembles a random sample of the visual background as perceived by the predator at the time and ...