To achieve effective visual camouflage, prey organisms must combine cryptic coloration with the appropriate posture and behaviour to render them difficult to be detected or recognized. Body patterning has been studied in various taxa, yet body postures and their implementation on different backgrounds have seldom been studied experimentally. Here, we provide the first experimental evidence that...

Humans use shading as a cue to three-dimensional form by combining low-level information about light intensity with high-level knowledge about objects and the environment. Here, we examine how cuttlefish Sepia officinalis respond to light and shadow to shade the white square (WS) feature in their body pattern. Cuttlefish display the WS in the presence of pebble-like objects, and they can shade ...

The effect of feeding 1% cuttlefish (Sepia pharaonis) liver oil for a period of 45 days on immune function, inflammatory response and platelet aggregation was studied in male albino Sprague Dawley rats. In liver oil-treated animals, spleen cell proliferation was significantly higher, especially in the presence of mitogen. The bone marrow cells also showed enhanced proliferation in the treated a...

as Mollusca (Coleoidea) and precursors of Cambrian Nectocaridids and extant cuttlefish and squid. Abstract A functional interpretation of the problematic Ediacaran fossils Podolimurus and similar organisms such as Dickinsonia indicates that they are hitherto unrecognized members of Mollusca: Coleoidea and precursors of Cambrian Nectocaridids and of extant cuttlefish and squid. This interpretati...

We have studied natural accommodation in the eye of six specimens of cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) as they were fed with fish and shrimp. Using infrared photoretinoscopy, we observed (1) that the resting refractive state of the cuttlefish was emmetropic or slightly hyperopic, (2) that accommodation took place only a fraction of a second before a strike and (3) that accommodation focused select...

The effects of season and sex on the fatty acids and proximate compositions of the mantle of the cuttlefish S. officinalis were evaluated. The results of the proximate composition showed that the level of protein contents of female of S. officinalis were significantly higher than those of male (P<0.05) for all seasons. In addition, lipid and moisture contents of female of cuttlefish were genera...

During colony relocation, the selection of a new nest involves exploration and assessment of potential sites followed by colony movement on the basis of a collective decision making process. Hygiene and pathogen load of the potential nest sites are factors worker scouts might evaluate, given the high risk of epidemics in group-living animals. Choosing nest sites free of pathogens is hypothesize...

Low-level mechanisms in vertebrate vision are sensitive to line orientation. Here we investigate orientation sensitivity in the cuttlefish Sepia pharaonis, by allowing animals to settle on stripe patterns. When camouflaging themselves cuttlefish are known to be sensitive to image parameters such as contrast and spatial scale, but we find no effect of background orientation on the patterns displ...