Cuttlefish camouflage: The effects of substrate contrast and size in evoking uniform, mottle or disruptive body patterns

@article{Barbosa2008CuttlefishCT,
  title={Cuttlefish camouflage: The effects of substrate contrast and size in evoking uniform, mottle or disruptive body patterns},
  author={Alexandra Barbosa and Lydia M. M{\"a}thger and K C Buresch and Jennifer Kelly and Charles Chubb and Chuan-Chin Chiao and Roger T. Hanlon},
  journal={Vision Research},
  year={2008},
  volume={48},
  pages={1242-1253}
}
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143 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
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Background Citations
47
Methods Citations
33
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143 Citations

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Mottle camouflage patterns in cuttlefish: quantitative characterization and visual background stimuli that evoke them
TLDR
Cuttlefish were tested on artificial and natural substrates to experimentally determine some primary visual background cues that evoke mottle patterns, and quantitatively measuring the scale and contrast of mottled skin components and relating these statistics to specific visual background stimuli that evoke this type of background-matching pattern.
Visual contrast modulates maturation of camouflage body patterning in cuttlefish (Sepia pharaonis).
TLDR
Results suggest that the maturation of camouflage body patterns in S. pharaonis is at least in part affected by visual contrast of their rearing backgrounds, although environmental complexity or social interaction is also likely to be involved in this process.
How visual edge features influence cuttlefish camouflage patterning
Vertical Visual Features Have a Strong Influence on Cuttlefish Camouflage
TLDR
These experiments support field observations that, in some marine habitats, cuttlefish will respond to vertically oriented background features even when the preponderance of visual information in their field of view seems to be from the 2D surrounding substrate.
The scaling effects of substrate texture on camouflage patterning in cuttlefish
Cephalopod dynamic camouflage: bridging the continuum between background matching and disruptive coloration
TLDR
The chief characteristics of the three major body pattern types used for camouflage by cephalopods are defined: uniform and mottle patterns for background matching, and disruptive patterns that primarily enhance disruptiveness but aid background matching as well.
Cuttlefish camouflage: context-dependent body pattern use during motion
TLDR
It is found that the body pattern used during motion is context-specific and that high-contrast body pattern components are significantly reduced during movement, and cuttlefish do not use high contrast motion dazzle.
Edge detection and texture classification by cuttlefish.
TLDR
The results suggest that the choice of camouflage pattern is consistent with a simple model of how cuttlefish classify visual textures, according to whether they are Uniform or patterned, and whether the pattern includes visual edges.
Size Matters: Observed and Modeled Camouflage Response of European Cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) to Different Substrate Patch Sizes during Movement
TLDR
A computational model is constructed capturing the main features of the observed camouflaging behavior of Sepia officinalis cuttlefish, and suggests that the animal's length serves as a possible threshold filter below which objects are considered irrelevant for camouflage, reducing the frequency of reflectance changes—which may lead to detection.
A review of visual perception mechanisms that regulate rapid adaptive camouflage in cuttlefish
TLDR
This sensorimotor approach of studying cuttlefish camouflage provides unique insights into the mechanisms of visual perception in an invertebrate image-forming eye.
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References

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The results indicate that cuttlefish are solving a visual scaling problem of camouflage presumably without visual confirmation of the size of their own skin component.
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TLDR
It is suggested that the differences may arise because S. pharaonis needs to produce camouflage that is effective when viewed over a relatively wide range of distances.
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