There’s a great paper just come online. It’s by Keri Langridge, who I met a few times when I was writing a piece for New Scientist about cuttlefish. These are extraordinary creatures. My New Scientist piece, published last year, is here. Here’s a little teaser:
When they come across cuttlefish,some divers offer a greeting, the two-fingered“peace” sign. in what is surely one of the few cross-species salutations in the natural world, the cuttlefish reciprocates by lifting two of its arms. this message of peace is actually quite the opposite – a startle response to what thecuttlefish perceives as a threat. sticking two fingers up at divers or predators is a secondary level of defence which cuttlefish use on therare occasions that their camouflage fails.
The big point of Keri’s
paper (abstract only, in press at Animal Behaviour) is to do with this kind of response. Cuttlefish don’t just flee when a predator comes along. If it’s only a minor threat they send out a “big eye” signal to ward them off. In other words, they distinguish between different kinds of predator. It’s an enormously rare thing, and shows how big (relatively speaking) their brains are. No wonder they've been compared to an
alien intelligence.
Of course, the whole camouflage routine is just stunning. Roger Hanlon, the cephalopod king has some amazing video
here.
You gotta just love these amazing creatures. And they taste good too - here are some
recipes!
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