Dynamic Camouflage in Benthic and Pelagic Cephalopods: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Crypsis Based on Color, Reflection, and Bioluminescence

Abstract

Abstract : Our overall goal is to understand the perceptual and mechanistic principles that underlay camouflage framed in the context of the animals' environment. In particular, we plan to characterize and understand the perceptual abilities of several species of benthic and pelagic cephalopods (which are unrivaled masters of dynamic camouflage), the aspects of their optical environment that affect their camouflage behavior, the characterization of that behavior, and the molecular mechanisms inside the skin by which those responses are accomplished. To fully characterize the spatiotemporal characteristics of the near-surface and shallow benthic underwater light field, including ultraviolet radiation and polarization. To determine the visual abilities of several species of cephalopod and model both the shallow and deep-water world from the animals' points of view. To incorporate the knowledge gained from tasks 1 and 2 in order to study the camouflage behavior of these species under simulated ocean conditions. This will lead to an understanding of the most important aspects of their environment that determine their optical camouflage response. To understand the underlying molecular and biophysical mechanisms governing changes in the skin that produce the observed optical effects, to help provide a platform for future translational efforts.