Interesting Cephalopod Chromatophore Transformation

[Dan]

Interesting cephalopod chromatophore transformation we witnessed while diving in Maagiri Reef, North Male Atoll, Maldives, with Maldives Aggressor II, on 18 December 2023. This male cuttlefish was able to make half of his body skin darker.

 

[Madacub]

Amazing! Maybe to match the reef bit that that side is near.
Also at 0:36, it looks like it's left two tentacles have changed color to match the sand those are near.
Reminds me of the time I was following a cuttlefish in shallow water, and it was changing it's color from whitish (matching the sand) to greenish, and I was wondering why, and then I saw that the water was bringing some green/yellow seaweed to us. The cuttlefish had seen that (swimming backwards) and had begun to change color in advance!

 

[RyanT]

Pretty cool! I've watched squid do this. Males will often do it while courting a female. By only changing color on one side, they can signal to females while not alerting males on their other side as to what they are doing.

 

[cfberry]

Interesting cephalopod chromatophore transformation we witnessed while diving in Maagiri Reef, North Male Atoll, Maldives, with Maldives Aggressor II, on 18 December 2023. This male cuttlefish was able to make half of his body skin darker.

This is awesome