GoPro Footage Reveals Dazzling Visual Tricks Cuttlefish Use to Hunt its Prey
Scientists captured remarkable footage of Cuttlefish using mesmerizing camouflage techniques to disguise themselves while stalking its prey.
In a study published last month in the journal Ecology, a team of researchers revealed how they filmed more than 200 cuttlefish hunts and observed four elaborate body patterns use to confuse its prey.
These impressive techniques include creating stripes that move over their bodies or mimicking non-threatening objects.
The footage, captured by study author Dr. Matteo Santon who is a marine visual ecologist at Bristol University, U.K., shows the cuttlefish’s dazzling hunting methods from the perspective of the prey — effectively, what it’s like to be a crab.
“These are masters, the hypnotists of the underwater world,” Dr. Santon says of the cuttlefish’s techniques to New Scientist.
Using a GoPro camera, a plexiglass plate, and live crabs as bait, Santon and his colleagues filmed the Broadclub cuttlefish around the islands of Kri and Mansuar Islands in the Raja Ampat region of Indonesia. Over the months that followed, he and his colleagues filmed 98 cuttlefish pursuing prey 234 times.
In all instances, when within several feet of the crab, the cuttlefish took on four elaborate body patterns, which the researchers named leaf, coral, pulse and passing stripe, according to a report in The New York Times.
When using the leaf technique, cuttlefish turn green and extend their arms in a way that mirrors the gentle swaying of mangrove leaves in the water. In the coral technique, they spread their arms wide and adopt a dark, mottled pattern, creating an uncanny resemblance to staghorn coral.
The pulse technique involves pulling their arms into a cone shape while sending black pulses along them. Researchers believe this could be an attempt to mimic a smaller, harmless fish, making them appear less threatening. In the passing stripe display, they shift to a gray tone and send rhythmic black stripes cascading down their bodies. Scientists suggest this movement might help cuttlefish avoid detection by giving the illusion of a non-threatening presence as they approach their target.
Interestingly, cuttlefish used the coral technique 12% more often when hunting well-armored purple mangrove crabs, hinting that they may adjust their displays based on the type of prey they encounter. However, it remains unclear how they decide which disguise to use at any given moment. Their choices could be influenced by their surroundings, the prey they are stalking, or even a strategy of unpredictability to keep their targets from catching on.
While the exact mechanism behind their decisions is still a mystery, the cuttlefish’s dazzling camouflage techniques are nothing short of extraordinary.
“Whether or not the cuttlefish are learning to adjust their predatory displays, they still reflect an impressive degree of neural processing power,” Rachel Blaser, a neuroscientist at the University of San Diego who was not involved in the study, tells The New York Times.
“It represents an extremely sophisticated level of motor coordination.”
Image credits: Header photo by Matteo Santon in ‘Multiple hunting displays in wild broadclub cuttlefish’ published in Ecology.
