title: Camouflage during movement in the European cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis).
abstract: A moving object is considered conspicuous because of the movement itself. When moving from one background to another, even dynamic camouflage experts such as cephalopods should sacrifice their extraordinary camouflage. Therefore, minimizing detection at this stage is crucial and highly beneficial. In this study, we describe a background-matching mechanism during movement, which aids the cuttlefish to downplay its presence throughout movement. In situ behavioural experiments using video and image analysis, revealed a delayed, sigmoidal, colour-changing mechanism during movement of Sepia officinalis across uniform black and grey backgrounds. This is a first important step in understanding dynamic camouflage during movement, and this new behavioural mechanism may be incorporated and applied to any dynamic camouflaging animal or man-made system on the move.
authors.affiliation: Eilat Campus, Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel H. Steinitz Marine Biology Laboratory, Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences, P.O.B. 469, Eilat 88103, Israel bigblue2810@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Noam
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Josef
authors.affiliation: Eilat Campus, Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel H. Steinitz Marine Biology Laboratory, Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences, P.O.B. 469, Eilat 88103, Israel.
authors.forename: Igal
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Berenshtein
authors.affiliation: Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, Napoli 80121, Italy.
authors.forename: Graziano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fiorito
authors.affiliation: CCMAR-CIMAR L.A., Centro de Ciências do Mar do Algarve, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, Faro 8005-139, Portugal.
authors.forename: António V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Sykes
authors.affiliation: Eilat Campus, Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel.
authors.forename: Nadav
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shashar
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003116:Color; D009068:Movement; D049833:Sepia / Q000502:physiology*; D012880:Skin Pigmentation
keywords: Animal behaviour; Background matching; Cephalopods; Chromatophores; Common cuttlefish; Dynamic camouflage; Movement camouflage