Cuttlefish Hunting Skills
Cuttlefish can use rapid colour changes to distract prey, diverting a victim’s attention from their rapidly approaching tentacles.
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This was one of several cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) hunting fish.
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A cuttlefish would lurk beneath a small shoal of two-spot gobies (Gobiusculus flavescens) and go through a series of rapid colour changes as above and here…
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…and here…
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…before extending its tentacles to catch a goby (see far right-hand side of photograph).
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After that strike, the cuttlefish reverted to its resting colours as it seemed to be chewing its meal.
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Nearby, a different individual…
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…turned virtually white as it grabbed its victim, another two-spot goby (Gobiusculus flavescens).
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This greatly enlarged section of the photograph above is now badly pixellated but it shows the hapless goby (see eye and silvery swimbladder) captured by the suckers on the tips of the extended tentacles.