Cuttlefish can change
their color and camouflage themselves, becoming almost invisible to the human
eye. According to one report, cuttlefish “are known to have a diverse range of
body patterns and they can switch between them almost instantaneously.” How do
cuttlefish do it?
The cuttlefish changes
color by using the chromatophore, a special kind of cell found under its skin.
Chromatophores contain sacs that are full of colored pigment and that are
surrounded by tiny muscles. When the cuttlefish needs to camouflage itself, its
brain sends a signal to contract the muscles around the sacs. Then the sacs and
the pigment within them expand, and the cuttlefish quickly changes its color
and pattern. The cuttlefish may use this skill not only for camouflage but also
to impress potential mates and perhaps communicate.
Engineers at the
University of Bristol, England, built an artificial cuttlefish skin. They
sandwiched disks of black rubber between small devices that function like
cuttlefish muscles. When the researchers applied electricity to the skin, the
devices flattened and expanded the black disks, darkening and changing the
color of the artificial skin.
Research on cuttlefish
muscles—“the soft structures that nature is so good at making,” according to
engineer Jonathan Rossiter—could lead to clothing that changes color in a
fraction of a second. Rossiter says that people might wear cuttlefish-inspired
clothes for camouflage—or simply for fashion.
