QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

First published online May 19, 2008
Journal of Experimental Biology 211, 1757-1763 (2008)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2008
doi: 10.1242/jeb.015149

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JEB Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kelman, E. J. Articles by Baddeley, R. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kelman, E. J. Articles by Baddeley, R. J. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Determining friend vs foe through sensory cues

A review of cuttlefish camouflage and object recognition and evidence for depth perception

Emma J. Kelman¹, Daniel Osorio^1,* and Roland J. Baddeley²

¹ School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK
² Department of Experimental Psychology, Social Sciences Complex, 8 Woodland Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1TN, UK

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: d.osorio{at}sussex.ac.uk)

Accepted 3 February 2008

Summary

Cuttlefishes of the genus Sepia produce adaptive camouflage by regulating the expression of visual features such as spots and lines, and textures including stipples and stripes. They produce the appropriate pattern for a given environment by co-ordinated expression of about 40 of these `chromatic components'. This behaviour has great flexibility, allowing the animals to produce a very large number of patterns, and hence gives unique access to cuttlefish visual perception. We have, for instance, tested their sensitivity to image parameters including spatial frequency, orientation and spatial phase. One can also ask what features in the visual environment elicit a given coloration pattern; here most work has been on the disruptive body pattern, which includes well-defined light and dark features. On 2-D backgrounds, isolated pale objects of a specific size, that have well-defined edges, elicit the disruptive pattern. Here we show that visual depth is also relevant. Naturally, cuttlefish probably use the disruptive pattern amongst discrete objects, such as pebbles. We suggest that they use several visual cues to `identify' this type of background (including: edges, contrast, size, and real and pictorial depth). To conclude we argue that the visual strategy cuttlefish use to select camouflage is fundamentally similar to human object recognition.

Key words: cephalopod, cuttlefish, vision, camouflage, behaviour

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

Related articles in JEB:

NEUROSENSORY ECOLOGY IN THE JEB

Kathryn Phillips
JEB 2008 211: i. [Full Text]  

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. Zylinski, D. Osorio, and A. J. Shohet Cuttlefish camouflage: context-dependent body pattern use during motion Proc R Soc B, November 22, 2009; 276(1675): 3963 - 3969. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R.T Hanlon, C.-C Chiao, L.M Mathger, A Barbosa, K.C Buresch, and C Chubb Cephalopod dynamic camouflage: bridging the continuum between background matching and disruptive coloration Phil Trans R Soc B, February 27, 2009; 364(1516): 429 - 437. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S Zylinski, D Osorio, and A.J Shohet Perception of edges and visual texture in the camouflage of the common cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis Phil Trans R Soc B, February 27, 2009; 364(1516): 439 - 448. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. Stuart-Fox and A. Moussalli Camouflage, communication and thermoregulation: lessons from colour changing organisms Phil Trans R Soc B, February 27, 2009; 364(1516): 463 - 470. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]