Embracing Their Prey at That Dark Hour: Common Cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) Can Hunt in Nighttime Light Conditions.

Cuttlefish are highly efficient predators, which strongly rely on their anterior binocular visual field for hunting and prey capture. Their complex eyes possess adaptations for low light conditions. Recently, it was discovered that they display camouflaging behavior at night, perhaps to avoid detection by predators, or to increase their nighttime hunting success. This raises the question whether cuttlefish are capable of foraging during nighttime. In the present study, prey capture of the common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) was filmed with a high-speed video camera in different light conditions. Experiments were performed in daylight and with near-infrared light sources in two simulated nightlight conditions, as well as in darkness. The body of the common cuttlefish maintained a velocity of less than 0.1 m/s during prey capture, while the tentacles during the seizing phase reached velocities of up to 2.5 m/s and accelerations reached more than 450 m/s2 for single individuals. There was no significant difference between the day and nighttime trials, respectively. In complete darkness, the common cuttlefish was unable to catch any prey. Our results show that the common cuttlefish are capable of catching prey during day- and nighttime light conditions. The common cuttlefish employ similar sensory motor systems and prey capturing techniques during both day- and nighttime conditions.

Behavioural responses to infrasonic particle acceleration in cuttlefish.

Attacks by aquatic predators generate frontal water disturbances characterised by low-frequency gradients in pressure and particle motion. Low-frequency hearing is highly developed in cephalopods. Thus, we examined behavioural responses in juvenile cuttlefish to infrasonic accelerations mimicking main aspects of the hydrodynamic signals created by predators. In the experimental set-up, animals and their surrounding water moved as a unit to minimise lateral line activation and to allow examination of the contribution by the inner ear. Behavioural responses were tested in light versus darkness and after food deprivation following a 'simulated' hunting opportunity. At low acceleration levels, colour change threshold at 3, 5 and 9 Hz was 0.028, 0.038 and 0.035 m s-2, respectively. At higher stimulus levels, jet-propulsed escape responses thresholds in daylight were 0.043, 0.065 and 0.069 m s-2 at 3, 5 and 9 Hz, respectively, and not significantly different from the corresponding darkness thresholds of 0.043, 0.071 and 0.064 m s-2 In a simulated hunting mode, escape thresholds were significantly higher at 3 Hz (0.118 m s-2) but not at 9 Hz (0.134 m s-2). Escape responses were directional, and overall followed the direction of the initial particle acceleration, with mean escape angles from 313 to 33 deg for all three experiments. Thus, in the wild, particle acceleration might cause escape responses directed away from striking predators but towards suction-feeding predators. We suggest that cuttlefish jet-propulsed escape behaviour has evolved to be elicited by the early hydrodynamic disturbances generated during predator encounters, and that the inner ear plays an essential role in the acoustic escape responses.