Tactical decisions for changeable cuttlefish camouflage: visual cues for choosing masquerade are relevant from a greater distance than visual cues used for background matching.
Cuttlefish use multiple camouflage tactics to evade their predators. Two common tactics are background matching (resembling the background to hinder detection) and masquerade (resembling an uninteresting or inanimate object to impede detection or recognition). We investigated how the distance and orientation of visual stimuli affected the choice of these two camouflage tactics. In the current experiments, cuttlefish were presented with three visual cues: 2D horizontal floor, 2D vertical wall, and 3D object. Each was placed at several distances: directly beneath (in a circle whose diameter was one body length (BL); at zero BL [(0BL); i.e., directly beside, but not beneath the cuttlefish]; at 1BL; and at 2BL. Cuttlefish continued to respond to 3D visual cues from a greater distance than to a horizontal or vertical stimulus. It appears that background matching is chosen when visual cues are relevant only in the immediate benthic surroundings. However, for masquerade, objects located multiple body lengths away remained relevant for choice of camouflage.
Program in Sensory Physiology and Behavior, Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543; kendraburesch@gmail.com.
Kendra C
KC
Buresch
Program in Sensory Physiology and Behavior, Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543;
Kimberly M
KM
Ulmer
Program in Sensory Physiology and Behavior, Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543;
Corinne
C
Cramer
Program in Sensory Physiology and Behavior, Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543;
Sarah
S
McAnulty
Program in Sensory Physiology and Behavior, Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543;
William
W
Davison
Program in Sensory Physiology and Behavior, Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543;
Lydia M
LM
Mäthger
Program in Sensory Physiology and Behavior, Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543; Brown University, Department of Ecology and Evolution, 45 Prospect Street, Providence, Rhode Island 02912.
Roger T
RT
Hanlon
D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003463:Cues; D049833:Sepia / Q000502:physiology*; D012880:Skin Pigmentation; D014796:Visual Perception