Of all the strange creatures in the ocean, a few stand out in their strangeness. The cuttlefish is certainly one of them. We’re likely quite strange to them, though — but we can’t do half the stuff they can. Take, for example, the method of hunting crabs you see above. Voiced by the inimitable David Attenborough, the creators at BBC Earth II shone a light on the cuttlefish as it dramatically changes its colors in order to hypnotize a crab.
Cuttlefish are related to the octopus and squid, both of which are almost as strange. The cuttlefish is so named because of a thick internal shell called a cuttlebone, and the 100-or-so different species can range in size from one inch to over two feet. Their flat bodies have wing-like fins and, like the squid and octopus, have eight tentacles. Cuttlefish have two longer tentacles that are generally used as their hunting arms.
They live mostly in warmer, shallow waters, but in the winter they move to deeper areas. We use them as food, an ink source, and apparently, we use their cuttlebone as a source of calcium for caged birds — an oddly specific use. Like the squid and octopus, we suspect that they’re very smart. They have large brains, at least relative to their body size, and they’ve shown intelligence traits like forgoing an immediate, lower-quality food source for a tastier morsel at a later time. Of all the strange things they do, however, the most mesmerizing has to be the way they’re able to change skin color.
