Question

about cattle fish How does it catch its food?

Group of answer choices

camouflage and sneak up on prey

hypnotize prey with pulsing colors

stab prey with internal shell extension poison

prey with nematocysts

Answer 1

Cuttle fishes or cuttles are the marine molluscs of order the sepiida (related to snails and clams)

They belongs to the chipholopoda ,All species in this group have tentacles attached in thier head

The brain of cuttle fish are enormous when compared to the other invertibrates enabling cuttle fish to learn and remember.

Despite color blind they have very good eye sight and they can vary their color ,shape ,movement rapidly to communicate and comouflage.

Male cuttle fish will dispalys vibrant color variation during courship.

In reproduction male passes the female a packet of sperm using a specially adapted tentacle and the male will guard the female until she lays cluster of fertilised,black-grape like eggs

Cuttlefish have a fin fringe running along their sides. By undulating these fins cuttlefish are able to hover, crawl and swim. They can also move by ‘jet propulsion’, which can be an effective escape mechanism. This is achieved by assuming a streamline body shape and quickly squeezing water from a cavity in their body, through a funnel-like siphon which thrusts them backwards.

Cuttlefish are impressive predators. They are able to catch large, fast moving prey such as fish and crustaceans like crabs, shrimps and prawns.

3 amazing facts of cuttle fish

1. cuttle fish produce clouds of ink when they feel threatned (this ink was once used by artist and writers)

2. cuttle fishes are skill fulll color- changers

3 .the buoyancy organ of cattle fish can be found washed upon the beaches once the animal was died and the flesh is decmposed or eaten

How do they feed

Cuttlefish feed by using their extendable tentacles to catch prey as it moves past. They also have a razor sharp beak (similar to a parrot’s beak) hidden behind its tentacles which enables cuttlefish to feed on hard shelled animals such as crabs. The bite introduces a toxin, to quickly immobilise any troublesome prey

Cuttlefish hunting behaviors can be broken down into three phases

1. Attention: this is when the cuttlefish aligns itself with the prey and is often already camouflaged
2. Positioning: the cuttlefish moves within about one mantle length from the prey and prepares to strike
3. Seizure: this can be accomplished in two different manuevers. A tentacle strike produces two tentacles which are ejected and are used to grab the prey. Another method is an arm grab, where the cuttlefish jumps on its prey and wraps its arm around it

camouflage and sneak up on prey

1. Cuttlefish are one of the organisms with exceptional camouflaging ability.
2. Although it cannot see color, the organism can change the color of its body according to its surroundings. In fact, it is so good at doing so that it can even become invisible while lying at the bottom of the ocean floor.
3. This ability helps the cuttlefish in hiding from predators as well as for catching its prey off-guard. This ability of the organism is so well-developed that it can perform perfect camouflage even in darknes.

Camouflage, also called cryptic coloration, is a defense mechanism or tactic that organisms use to disguise their appearance, usually to blend in with their surroundings. Organisms use camouflage to mask their location, identity, and movement.

• Cuttlefish are able to rapidly change the color of their skin to match their surroundings and create chromatically complex patterns despite their inability to perceive color, through some mechanism which is not completely understood .They have been seen to have the ability to assess their surroundings and match the color, contrast and texture of the substrate even in nearly total darkness

• The color variations in the mimicked substrate and animal skin are similar. Depending on the species, the skin of cuttlefish responds to substrate changes in distinctive ways. By changing naturalistic backgrounds, the camouflage responses of different species can be measured

• The skin of a cuttlefish has pigment cells (chromatophores) that are under nervous and hormonal control, which enables the animal to become red, orange, yellow, brown, or black. Cuttlefish are often colored brownish green with white, irregular stripes that provide a perfect camouflage among seaweed. Cuttlefish also have a purple ribbon-like fin running the length of the body, and they are iridescent in sunlight. Cuttlefish can change their color and pattern at will, in a fraction of a second, a behavior which is thought to be a form of communication. They can become invisible by taking on the colors and designs of their surrounding environment, including other cuttlefish.

• Cuttlefish are also able to change the texture of their skin. The skin contains bands of circular muscle which as they contract, push fluid up. These can be seen as little spikes, bumps, or flat blades. This can help with camouflage when the cuttlefish becomes texturally as well as chromatically similar to objects in its environment such as kelp or rocks

Hypnotize prey with pulsing colors

cuttlefish have sacks that eject ink to aid in escaping predators. Their ink can also be mixed with mucus to create a smaller, denser cloud about the same shape and size as their own bodies to act as a decoy cuttlefish – confusing attackers. Their color-changing abilities can also be used to hypnotize potential prey with pulsating lights and color shows.

• Over bright stripes terrifying cuttlefish will also employ this strategy when hunting the light of their bodies with hypnotic light show to lure in prey. who are distracted by their amazing patterns

Stab prey with internal shell extension poison

Cuttlefish have ten tentacles (decapod), eight of which are short and have rows of suckers at their ends. The other two tentacles are longer and are retractable tentacles that can be used to catch prey. These tentacles have club-shaped ends with suckers, which can catch prey faster than the tongue of a lizard or frog, and can retract into sockets beside each eye. The cuttlefish mouth bears a strong beak-like structure that can bite and tear the prey, and cuttlefish salivary glands can secrete an immobilizing poison with the saliva.

An experimental study of prey-capture by cuttlefish using motion-analysis and direct observation of intact and lesioneds, while varying selected parameters of the experimental situation. The attack comprises 3 phrases: attention, initiation, and seizure. The attack is initiated and maintained by visual information alone. The final stage is the rapid (30 msec.) stab of the tentacles at the prey. 85-90% of stabs on prawns succeed without error: unilaterally blinded cuttlefish are less accurate. Possible mechanisms of estimating the direction and distance of the prey are discussed. Eye movements are described and evidence is presented for the 1st time that cuttlefish make visually induced eye movements in a direction compatible with the assumption that the posterior half of the retina contains an area of special vision.

Prey with nematocysts

Nematocyst,a specialized cell in the tentacles of a jellyfish or other coelenterate, containing a barbed or venomous coiled thread that can be projected in self-defence or to capture prey

Nematocysts are found in the phylum Cnidaria, which includes jellyfishes and sea anemone. Also called cnidocyte or cnidoblast, these are specialized cells found in the tentacles of jellyfish capable of projecting a thread-like structure as a form of self-defence or to capture prey. Most members carry venom and if stung, can cause excruciating pain or paralysis. These cells superficially resemble barbed wires capable of penetrating flesh in a few milliseconds.