Want to Learn Camouflage? Study the Squid!

NOAA.gov 

Behold the lowly squid. Yon sea beastie is able to rapidly blend in with its surroundings to escape predators — and it's colorblind. Since humans like to study the work of the Creator (but seldom give proper credit) and learn the secrets of their success, the United States Navy wants to know how squids can camouflage themselves so quickly.

Cephalopods—the group of mollusks that includes squid, octopus and cuttlefish—are famous for their amazing ability to blend quickly into their surroundings. Now the US Office of Naval Research is funding research in several universities into man-made materials that have the same instant camouflage properties.

On land, the chameleon has a most ingenious colour-changing system. But the colour changes are caused by hormones that travel through their blood system. Cephalopods change colour through their nervous system, so they adjust much faster—in only a second or two.

Their skin has the same sort of light-sensitive proteins as the eye—opsins—meaning that the skin itself can ‘see’ the surrounding colours and change colour accordingly.

You can read the rest of "Colourblind squid camouflage inspires Navy research", here.


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