Friday Squid Blogging: Cuttlefish Embryos Can See
Usually, cuttlefish eggs lie in an envelope full of black ink. But this clears as the embryos grow older, leaving them growing within translucent eggs.
These unborn cuttlefish also have fully developed eyes. That leads the researchers to conclude that the cuttlefish embryos must peer through their eggs, and learn to recognise their prey, a behaviour which will help give them a head-start in life.
Old Bogus • June 13, 2008 11:20 PM
Within the stated parameters of the experiment, how would the cuttlefish know crabs they had seen as embryos were prey? Obviously once free and hungry, they intuit what is food and what is not.
Maybe what they learned was crab behavior making them easier to catch once they know they are food.
These are opportunistic eaters, kinda like cane toads, and, unless conditioned against against a species by taste, will eat anything. I think the researchers need a more in depth interview process with the universal carnivores.