When a cuttlefish watches a video of a fellow cuttlefish, it starts waving its arms. Researchers have described four repeated gestures that could amount to a visual exchange. But what do these movements actually mean?
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The researchers described four repeated arm movements in the common cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis, and in a close relative, Sepia bandensis. They call them "arm wave signs". In a non-invasive experiment, cuttlefish responded by waving their own arms when shown videos of individuals making these gestures.
The team believes these gestures are signals, perceived by sight and by mechanoreception. However, this is a preprint that has not been peer-reviewed, and the exact meaning of the messages has not been established.
The common octopus, for its part, changes colour and skin patterns, mainly when hunting. For this species, a signal aimed at other octopuses remains a hypothesis, drawn from an old university thesis.
