Cuttlefish
By Tori Braithwaite
How does it find its food?
It finds its food by, changing its color and camouflaging around the sea floor. It can also change its shape to seaweed and other plants. It also moves like the plants as well. It has an ability to switch on an electrifying light show to dazzle its prey. Once it puts on a light show it then reacts fast and eats it prey.
How Does it Establish Territory?
It establishes territory by using black ink like octopuses. Due to some of there territorial behavior they could eat each other. Usually they do not have a territory to keep safe because they hide everywhere.
How does it defend itself against predators?
It defends itself by the ink that it streams out in case of danger coming. It has a great speed velocity and can get away very fast. It also changes color so fast the predator will be lost and won't know where it went.
How does it find and select a mate?
The cuttlefish only reproduces once in its lifetime. Male cuttlefish will aggressively display a reflection of itself of a mirror. An aggressive display of a zebra stripe pattern, bulging eyes, and often lining up parallel to its reflection. Unfortunately females will occasionally do this display.
How does it deal with the seasons?
It deals with the seasons pretty well because it lives in parts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Atlantic from England to North Africa. They can tolerate temperatures from 60*-82* under the water, but they prefer temperatures around 70*.
How does it communicate?
It doesn't exactly communicate with noises but with patterns and colors. They display light shows for other animals. They are not like other mammals. They have a lot of interactions with each other, most as adults. Males have the most displays and changing ability towards dominance and figure out who is their mate, or who will be their mate.
Does it live alone or in a group?
Cuttlefish usually live alone and sometimes in small groups. They hunt and live on their own until they find a mate. After they find a mate they are then on their own again.
Interesting Facts
Some interesting facts are
- It uses hypnosis to catch its prey.
- Its cells come together and change color to make blend with the environment.
World's Deadliest - Hypnosis Attack
Bibliography
Nova Spineless smarts- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/spineless-smarts.html
Learning Resources- http://aquarium.ucsd.edu/Education/Learning_Resources/Creature_Features/Cuttlefish/
Nova Kings of Camouflage- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/camo/anat-nf.html
These are some of the websites I used.