Cephalopod Camouflage and the US Navy

Cuttlefish, squids, and octopuses are grouped as cephalopods, and are fascinating in and of themselves. We looked at the brain and neurons recently; the neurons of cephalopods are mostly in their arms, not their brains.

Other things about them to amaze is that they are intelligent (even conniving), use their tentacles to grasp things, and have a camouflage ability that is truly startling. They blend in very quickly — yet they are colorblind. This is because the brain is not involved in the color-changing process.

Cuttlefish, Freeimages / John Boyer

Some folks like to criticize the military for keeping secrets and trying to find advantages in combat. Well, sure. There are people who want to hurt your country and people, you know. Getting the upper hand is common in the business world as well. The US Navy is studying these critters to learn how they do their camo thing. It is another aspect of biomimetics, where what is seen in nature is imitated for use by humans. Credit seldom goes to the Master Designer, and occasionally is given to evolution. Isn't that dumb?

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.

You can read the rest (and see a refutation of an anti-creationist remark by C. Richard Dawkins) by going to "Colourblind squid camouflage inspires Navy research."