Recently, I saw a BBC documentary about cuttlefish!
Wikipedia says: "Cuttlefish are marine animals of the order Sepiida. They belong to the class Cephalopoda, which also includes squid, octopodes, and nautiluses. Cuttlefish have a unique internal shell, the cuttlebone. Despite their name, cuttlefish are not fish but molluscs.
Cuttlefish have large, W-shaped pupils, eight arms, and two tentacles furnished with denticulated suckers, with which they secure their prey. They generally range in size from 15 to 25 cm (5.9 to 9.8 in), with the largest species, Sepia apama, reaching 50 cm (20 in) in mantle length and over 10.5 kg (23 lb) in mass."
"Cuttlefish are sometimes referred to as the "chameleons of the sea" because of their remarkable ability to rapidly alter their skin colour at will. Cuttlefish change colour and pattern (including the polarization of the reflected light waves), and the shape of the skin to communicate to other cuttlefish, to camouflage themselves, and as a deimatic display to warn off potential predators.
This colour-changing function is produced by groups of blue, red, yellow, brown, and black[citation needed] pigmented chromatophores above a layer of reflective iridophores and leucophores, with up to 200 of these specialized pigment cells per square millimeter, which would correspond to about 359 DPI if they could be individually controlled"(Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuttlefish
Cuttlefish are used by man as food, as a source of ink, and for the cuttlebone, a dietary supplement providing calcium for cage birds.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/147590/cuttlefish
Some interesting facts and videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDwOi7HpHtQ
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/worlds-deadliest-ngs/deadliest-cuttlefish-camouflage
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/cuttlefish
Dear Sundarapandian,
The special quality possessed by cuttlefish is two fold. The first as you state is there ability to hide themselves by changing the colors of there skin at will.
Secondly is the smaller males ability to play possum and be mistaken for a female by mimicking behaviors in order to mate. I
Third many female cuttlefish seem to prefer/attracted to intelligence rather than size and brawn. Many choosing to mate with smaller cuttlefish who have "out foxed" the much bigger cuttlefish.
Douglas
Cuttlefish are used by man as food, as a source of ink, and for the cuttlebone, a dietary supplement providing calcium for cage birds.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/147590/cuttlefish
Dear Sundar,
Your questions come like a machine gun! Having you around we do not get short of questions!
As for your question, I think that there is nothing special about about cuttlefish! The only special is to collect the various recipes to cook them!
Dear Prof. Costas Drossos: You have a great sense of humor! Kindly note that I am a vegetarian! There are some nice documentaries about cuttlefish changing color as well as form.. I got so amazed!
Dear Prof. Krishnan & Nageswara Rao - Have you seen cuttlefish in India?
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