The Clever Cuttlefish

Oriol Chias Diez's Image

Oriol Chias Diez (Spain) watches a common cuttlefish raising two of its tentacles while swimming among the seagrass.

Oriol had been observing the cuttlefish for more than an hour and was fascinated by its ability to change colour and shape at will. On one occasion it even disguised its arms as swaying leaves of seagrass.

Cuttlefish get their extraordinary camouflage abilities from cells called chromatophores. Each cuttlefish has around 10 million, and they turn them on and off like lights to create patterns.

They also have cells called leucophores which help by reflecting the light of their surroundings.


Behind the lens

Oriol Chias Diez

Oriol Chias Diez

Spain

Oriol is from Barcelona, Spain. When he was three months old his parents took him to the pool to take a swimming lesson and since then he’s been involved with water activities, including surfing, diving and freediving, as well as more recently underwater photography.

Image details

  • Panasonic Lumix GF1
  • 8mm fisheye lens
  • 1/640 at f5.6  •   ISO 400  •   Recsea GF1 housing
  • Cala Marmassen, Mallorca, Spain
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