Disruptive coloration in cuttlefish: a visual perception mechanism that regulates ontogenetic adjustment of skin patterning Export

@article{citeulike:1203224, abstract = {Among the changeable camouflage patterns of cuttlefish, disruptive patterning is shown in response to certain features of light objects in the visual background. However, whether animals show disruptive patterns is dependent not only on object size but also on their body size. Here, we tested whether cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) are able to match their disruptive body patterning with increasing size of background objects as they grow from hatchling to adult size (0.7 to 19.6 cm mantle length; factor of 28). Specifically, do cuttlefish have a single `visual sampling rule' that scales accurately during ontogeny? For each of seven size classes of cuttlefish, we created black and white checkerboards whose check sizes corresponded to 4, 12, 40, 120, 400 and 1200\% of the area of the cuttlefish's White square, which is a neurophysiologically controlled component of the skin. Disruptive body patterns were evoked when, regardless of animal size, the check size measured either 40 or 120\% of the area of the cuttlefish's White square, thus demonstrating a remarkable ontogenetic conformity to a single visual sampling rule. Cuttlefish have no known visual feedback loop with which to adjust their skin patterns. Since the area of a cuttlefish's White square skin component is a function of body size, our results indicate that cuttlefish are solving a visual scaling problem of camouflage presumably without visual confirmation of the size of their own skin component. 10.1242/jeb.02741}, author = {Barbosa, Alexandra and Mathger, Lydia M. and Chubb, Charles and Florio, Christopher and Chiao, Chuan-Chin and Hanlon, Roger T.}, citeulike-article-id = {1203224}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.02741}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/abstract/210/7/1139}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17371913}, citeulike-linkout-3 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=17371913}, day = {1}, doi = {10.1242/jeb.02741}, journal = {J Exp Biol}, month = {April}, number = {7}, pages = {1139--1147}, posted-at = {2007-04-02 18:56:12}, priority = {2}, title = {Disruptive coloration in cuttlefish: a visual perception mechanism that regulates ontogenetic adjustment of skin patterning}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.02741}, volume = {210}, year = {2007} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:1203224 L3 - citeulike-article-id:1203224 N2 - Among the changeable camouflage patterns of cuttlefish, disruptive patterning is shown in response to certain features of light objects in the visual background. However, whether animals show disruptive patterns is dependent not only on object size but also on their body size. Here, we tested whether cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) are able to match their disruptive body patterning with increasing size of background objects as they grow from hatchling to adult size (0.7 to 19.6 cm mantle length; factor of 28). Specifically, do cuttlefish have a single `visual sampling rule' that scales accurately during ontogeny? For each of seven size classes of cuttlefish, we created black and white checkerboards whose check sizes corresponded to 4, 12, 40, 120, 400 and 1200% of the area of the cuttlefish's White square, which is a neurophysiologically controlled component of the skin. Disruptive body patterns were evoked when, regardless of animal size, the check size measured either 40 or 120% of the area of the cuttlefish's White square, thus demonstrating a remarkable ontogenetic conformity to a single visual sampling rule. Cuttlefish have no known visual feedback loop with which to adjust their skin patterns. Since the area of a cuttlefish's White square skin component is a function of body size, our results indicate that cuttlefish are solving a visual scaling problem of camouflage presumably without visual confirmation of the size of their own skin component. 10.1242/jeb.02741 IS - 7 JF - J Exp Biol EP - 1147 TI - Disruptive coloration in cuttlefish: a visual perception mechanism that regulates ontogenetic adjustment of skin patterning VL - 210 SP - 1139 AU - Barbosa, Alexandra AU - Mathger, Lydia AU - Chubb, Charles AU - Florio, Christopher AU - Chiao, Chuan-Chin AU - Hanlon, Roger PY - 2007/04/01/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.02741 ER -