If you can’t see the cuttlefish in the photo above, then it’s doing a good job
Certainly by now many of you have seen the amazing video of the “invisible octopus” that’s been posted to YouTube. The video is named incorrectly since it shows neither anything invisible (how could it?) nor does it show an octopus. The video is actually of a cuttlefish in camouflage and it was shot by Dr. Roger Hanlon of the Marine Biological Laboratory.
Carl Zimmer of The New York Times visited Dr. Roger Hanlon at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts where Dr. Hanlon keeps an extensive lab of cuttlefish in order to study their excellent skills in camouflage.
Dr. Hanlon has discovered that the cuttlefish have three main modes of camouflage — uniform, mottled, and disruptive — despite the ability to imitate just about any surface it comes near. The cuttlefish use these three modes in various ways to disguise itself from predators and prey.
Watch the video above to see the tests that Dr. Hanlon conducts to learn more about the cuttlefish. If you want to see more of Dr. Roger Hanlon’s work, you can do so at his video page.
Did you even watch the video you posted? Dr. Roger Hanlon clearly states that the creature in the video /is/ an octopus, while the video replays that famous footage. Where do you get this “it’s actually a cuttlefish” nonsense?
Anyone who knows any marine biology knows its a cuttlefish…he obviously was just looking at the title of the video when being shown to him and it slipped out as octopus. you can tell it is a cuttlefish by its shape and the way it swims.
Although I’m not a marine biologist (but I have played one on TV), the last little bit of video footage does appear to be an octopus. I watched the way it swam, the way it “spread out” in a defensive posture, and the blur of ink it squirted – all are characteristics of an octopus. I’ve just started looking into the cuttlefish and unless I’m missing something, a cuttlefish doesn’t do any of these things. “Trolomatic”, if I’m wrong, would you direct me to some additional information?