Cuttlefish: A Cammo Conundrum

Cuttlefish are found in tropical, shallow waters and everywhere but North America. So don't bother trying to go to Florida to see them. You'll be disappointed, but may also see some of their cephalopod cousins and that's not so bad.

Anywho, these water kaleidoscopes come in 120 different varieties and range from a mere three inches to as big as twelve inches. Absolutely ferocious, if you ask me.

They are Emperors of camouflage since they can change color, texture, and shape, "Oh, My!". You are probably thinking, wow, they must have excellent eyesight to do that— and you would be right! They have some of the best vision around, but they are colorblind. SAY WHAT NOW? You read it right, they are colorblind. They can, however, see polarized light, which does not make them a handy camera; it just means they see differently than we do. I tried googling that for you, but I just ended up reading a lot about yellow bowties, and then I gave up.

Cuttlefish can also adjust their buoyancy by adjusting the amount of air and water inside their cuttlebone. My dad said that lots of bird owners have cuttlebones to give their bird calcium. I was skeptical, so I looked that up. It turns out that turtles and a wide variety of animals use cuttlebones. 

#dadfacts

Remember when you were little, and you spent time debating if your blood was actually blue or not? Well, these hide-and-go-seek champions actually have teal blood. They have a copper protein called Haemocyanin instead of hemoglobin like we do. 

Their fancy fin skirt is used for swimming and allows them to move fluidly through the water.

#skirtgameonpoint 

They also have a mantle cavity for jetting (that fast swoosh away from big nasties), but it's mostly used as a means of escape. These squishy Fruit Loops release ink while jetting to make it harder for predators to see them, like all those cute squids and stuff in the movies. Unless it's Halloween, try not to scare your neighborhood cuttlefish—it'd be a bit messy.

#youguysmademeink