Wild observation of putative dynamic decapod mimicry by a cuttlefish ( Sepia cf. smithi )
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Wild observation of putative dynamic decapod mimicry by a cuttlefish (Sepia cf. smithi) Sean van Elden 1
&
Jessica J. Meeuwig 1,2
Received: 23 June 2020 / Revised: 3 September 2020 / Accepted: 7 September 2020 # Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung 2020
Abstract Stereo baited remote underwater video systems (BRUVS) are widely used to document diversity, abundance, and biomass of marine wildlife and record unusual behaviours. We observed a cuttlefish appearing to mimic decapod morphology and locomotion during a non-targeted BRUVS study on Australia’s Northwest Shelf. While the pharaoh cuttlefish Sepia pharaonis (Ehrenberg, 1831) is putatively thought to mimic the appearance of a hermit crab in a laboratory setting, our observation is the first wild record of decapod mimicry by a cuttlefish, tentatively identified as Sepia smithi (Hoyle, 1885). In situ observations increase our understanding of how cuttlefish behave in their natural environment while interacting with other species and provide opportunities to further our understanding of the source and breadth of these mimicry. Keywords Stereo-BRUVS . Cephalopod behaviour . Decapod mimicry . Novel field observation
Introduction Mimicry at the organism level is a phenomenon whereby a plant or animal (the mimic) uses various signal emissions such as sound, colour, shape, or scent to plagiarise something living or non-living (the model), in order to deceive a predator or prey animal (the dupe) (Pasteur 1982). Most cases of mimicry are static whereby the organism is in a permanent state of mimicry; for example, the nonvenomous king snake Lampropeltis elapsoides (Holbrook, 1838) has similar ringed markings to the venomous coral snake Micrurus fulvius (Linnaeus, 1766), and these markings cannot be changed (Pfennig et al. 2001). Some organisms, however, have the ability to choose
Communicated by M. Vecchione Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-020-01117-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Sean van Elden [email protected]; [email protected] 1
School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia
2
Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia
when to mimic a model. The bluestriped fangblenny Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos (Bleeker, 1852) for example, can change its appearance by ‘turning off’ the colours which allow it to mimic the bluestreak cleaner wrasse Labroides dimidiatus (Valenciennes, 1839, Côté and Cheney 2005). Cephalopods have a highly advanced ability to rapidly change their appearance by altering various body pattern components such as colour, texture, posture and locomotion (Hanlon 2007; Hanlon and Messenger 2018). The ability to swiftly change their body pattern is used by cephalopods for predator defence, feeding, mating and communication (Hanlon and Messenger 2018). A range of cephalopod species
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