Imagine yourself swimming off the southern coast of Australia, just you, the fish and no sharks or saltwater crocs in sight. You're gracefully swimming along a colourful reef until something even more colourful catches the corner of your eye. A beacon flashing many colours in a seductive pattern has you approaching it without hesitation, It speaks no words yet it calls to you. It's all too late until you gaze upon the piercing eyes of the cuttlefish, it shoots its pair of tentacles out and reels you in to be consumed....... Is exactly what it would be like to be a fish or a crab in tropical waters.
And here we are, right beside a beautiful AI generated picture of a cuttlefish in all its glory. Why am I using AI generated pictures? Because im a cheap college student who cant afford stock images!
The cuttlefish, part of the cephalopoda phylum, is a creepy looking little guy. The giant cuttlefish can grow up to 10kg give or take, so no it will not eat you! Most however are just small little dudes trying to get by in the busy reefs of south east asia and areas nearby. These animals are truely unique in their hunting tactics which catch the interest of any zoologist, cuttlefish have millions of pigment cells in their body allowing them to change colours. These weirdos usually hypnotise their prey shooting a black line down their body repeatedly while contrasting a brighter colour, paralyzing them. Crabs and fishes beware!
Cuttlefish are cephalopods, making them related to squid and the infamous octopus, having two tentacles with 8 smaller arms. Their pair of tentacles are kept hidden then shoot out to grab prey so fast the naked eye tends to miss it.
Lets see what the story is with the ecological side of things, cuttlefish are predators but are also predated on by mainly sharks and even other cuttlefish. Given that, we would consider cuttlefish to be a little higher than the middle of the food chain in a given ecosystem. That sounds right to me anyways. Luckily for them cuttlefish aren't near exitnction, the australian giant cuttlefish however is near threatened, which is something a bitta conservation action will fix easily.
Cuttlefish are weird in their own way as squid and octopi are known to have no bones besides their beak, cuttlefish however have a hard internal structure called the cuttlebone (cuttlebone is actually really good for and sought after by seabirds to intake calcium). Like their cousins, cuttlefish live between two years and only a few months even though they have the most complex neurological development of all invertabrates, cuttlefish are known to be smart in terms of survivability as they aren't that fast or powerful compared to what wants to eat them, this leads to them using their camouflage abilities to blend in with its surroundings. They have a larger brain to body ratio than the octopus which is surprising as octopi are known to be very clever themselves, it must run in the family!
These guys give me the creeps honestly but theyre such a good example of adaptations and hunting tactics and how unique animals have become over many many millions of years. I'm going to call it quits on this one, keep it short and sweet for you to start things off!
Thanks for reading
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