Article Summary:

Woods Hole Marine Biology Laboratory are running a project for the Office of Naval Research to “to study and ultimately emulate the exquisite ability of some marine animals to instantly change their skin color and pattern to blend into their environment.” Researchers Roger Hanlon and Lydia Mäthger are studying the way longfin inshore squid (Loligo pealeii) change color to mimic their environment with an aim of reproducing this in materials. The team has previously discovered that cephalopod skin contains opsins, the same type of light-sensing proteins that function in the eyes, and now plan to research how these sense light and the neural pathways involved. Previous research has suggested that the that as squid have polarized vision, it might be possible that they send concealed signals to one other while staying camouflaged to fish or mammalian predators, most of which do not have this ability.