Speaker:

Dr. Matteo Santon, Research Fellow, University of Bristol

Title: 

Stealth and deception: motion camouflage in hunting cuttlefish

Abstruct:

Camouflage is disrupted by motion. Yet, all predators must hunt to survive, which often produces strong motion signals that makes them highly conspicuous. For pursuit predators, maintaining camouflage while hunting is a great challenge. Some exploit background motion to hide while hunting, and others may use coloration and behavior to generate motion noise that impairs detection or recognition. We recently uncovered a novel form of motion camouflage, showing that broadclub cuttlefish pass dark stripes downwards across their head and arms to disguise their hunting maneuvers. This ‘passing-stripe’ display reduced the probability of detection by prey crabs in a lab-based experiment, is modulated according to approach speed during a hunt, and generates a motion pattern that is different to that of looming predators. This new form of motion camouflage likely functions by overwhelming the threatening motion of the approaching predator with non-threatening downward motion generated by the rhythmic stripes.