• Login
    About WHOAS
    View Item 
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Marine Biological Laboratory
    • Marine Resources Center (MRC)
    • MRC Publications
    • View Item
    •   WHOAS Home
    • Marine Biological Laboratory
    • Marine Resources Center (MRC)
    • MRC Publications
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of WHOASCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywordsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesKeywords

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Adaptable night camouflage by cuttlefish

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    512106.pdf (512.5Kb)
    Date
    2007-02-12
    Author
    Hanlon, Roger T.  Concept link
    Naud, Marie-Jose  Concept link
    Forsythe, John W.  Concept link
    Hall, Karina  Concept link
    Watson, Anya C.  Concept link
    McKechnie, Joy  Concept link
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citable URI
    https://hdl.handle.net/1912/2058
    As published
    https://doi.org/10.1086/512106
    DOI
    10.1086/512106
    Keyword
     Crypsis; Concealment; Disruptive coloration; Coincident disruptive coloration; Cephalopod; Sepia apama 
    Abstract
    Cephalopods are well known for their diverse, quick‐changing camouflage in a wide range of shallow habitats worldwide. However, there is no documentation that cephalopods use their diverse camouflage repertoire at night. We used a remotely operated vehicle equipped with a video camera and a red light to conduct 16 transects on the communal spawning grounds of the giant Australian cuttlefish Sepia apama situated on a temperate rock reef in southern Australia. Cuttlefish ceased sexual signaling and reproductive behavior at dusk and then settled to the bottom and quickly adapted their body patterns to produce camouflage that was tailored to different backgrounds. During the day, only 3% of cuttlefish were camouflaged on the spawning ground, but at night 86% (71 of 83 cuttlefish) were camouflaged in variations of three body pattern types: uniform (n=5), mottled (n=33), or disruptive (n=34) coloration. The implication is that nocturnal visual predators provide the selective pressure for rapid, changeable camouflage patterning tuned to different visual backgrounds at night.
    Description
    Author Posting. © University of Chicago Press, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of University of Chicago Press for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in American Naturalist 169 (2007): 543–551, doi:10.1086/512106.
    Collections
    • MRC Publications
    Suggested Citation
    American Naturalist 169 (2007): 543–551
     

    Related items

    Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

    • Thumbnail

      False killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) echolocation and acoustic disruption : implications for longline bycatch and depredation 

      Mooney, T. Aran; Pacini, Aude F.; Nachtigall, Paul E. (NRC Research Press, 2009-07-31)
      False killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens (Owen, 1846)) depredate fish caught by the North Pacific pelagic longline fishery, resulting in loss of target species catch and the whales themselves becoming bycaught. This ...
    • Thumbnail

      Mysid crustaceans as standard models for the screening and testing of endocrine-disrupting chemicals 

      Verslycke, Tim A.; Ghekiere, An; Raimondo, Sandy; Janssen, Colin R. (2006)
      Investigative efforts into the potential endocrine-disrupting effects of chemicals have mainly concentrated on vertebrates, with significantly less attention paid to understanding potential endocrine disruption in the ...
    • Thumbnail

      Disruption of termite gut-microbiota and its prolonged fitness consequences 

      Rosengaus, Rebeca B.; Zecher, Courtney N.; Schultheis, Kelley F.; Brucker, Robert M.; Bordenstein, Seth R. (2011-05)
      The disruption of host-symbiont interactions through the use of antibiotics can help elucidate microbial functions that go beyond short-term nutritional value. Termite gut symbionts have been studied extensively, but ...
    All Items in WHOAS are protected by original copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. WHOAS also supports the use of the Creative Commons licenses for original content.
    A service of the MBLWHOI Library | About WHOAS
    Contact Us | Send Feedback | Privacy Policy
    Core Trust Logo