In May 2023, Matteo Santon filmed cuttlefish hunting in Indonesia, aiming to capture their camouflage techniques from the prey's perspective. His team recorded over 200 hunts, revealing cuttlefish's ability to use intricate body patterns, mimicking natural elements like leaves and corals. This fascinating research suggests cuttlefish might manipulate their prey's visual perception, appearing non-threatening to crabs before launching an attack. While laboratory studies on cuttlefish's hunting behaviors exist, this groundbreaking fieldwork highlights their deceptive strategies in a natural setting, offering valuable insights into their predation tactics.
In a series of dives over the next year, he and his team filmed more than 200 cuttlefish hunts, from crab-eye view.
The cuttlefish displays may somehow hack the visual system of their prey, which may mask their movement or convince the crabs they are harmless flora.
Cuttlefish are masters of deception. Much like their octopus cousins, the animals have skin filled with pigment-loaded cells and piston-like muscular pumps.
In laboratories, scientists have also observed some of these sophisticated behaviors as cuttlefish hunt, but this ability has seldom been studied in the wild.
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