The ventilatory, cardiac and behavioural responses of resting cuttlefish(Sepia officinalisL.) to sudden visual stimuli

Abstract

IntroductionIt is well-accepted that animals increase ventilation rate and cardiac output after a sudden stimulus (Wingfield, 2003). However, animals across many taxonomic groups have an alternate response to sudden stimuli. The alternate response includes decreased ventilation rate, decreased cardiac output and behavioural freezing (Table·1). Several animals engage in either the traditional fight-or-flight response or the alternate response, depending on the context. For example, if an alligator (Smith et al., 1974) or a burrowing mammal (Smith and Woodruff, 1980;Smith et al., 1981) is cornered in the open, it shows the traditional fight-or-flight response; its heart rate increases, and it fights. However, when the same animal is allowed to hide underwater (alligator) or in its den (burrowing mammal) when frightened, it shows an alternate response; its heart rate decreases and it becomes still.In response to rapidly approaching objects, some cephalopods, e.g. Octopus vulgaris (Wells, 1980;Wells et al., 1987) and the cuttlefish Sepia officinalis (Chichery, 1980), show an alternate response. In cuttlefish, the response includes a transient decrease in ventilation rate and adoption of the Deimatic Display (Table·1). The cephalopod Deimatic Display includes behavioural freezing, rapid changes in skin colour and texture, and body flattening (Hanlon and Messenger, 1996) (e.g. Fig.·1). It is part of a larger category of behaviour called deimatic behaviour. Deimatic behaviour is thought to act as 'threat, startle, frightening or bluff behaviour [that] in most cases serves to make a predator hesitate during the close approach phase of attack ' (Hanlon and Messenger, 1996, p. 79). If deimatic behaviour does not stop the approach of the object or predator, the cephalopod typically jets away by powerfully forcing water from its mantle (Hanlon and Messenger, 1996).Unlike the function of the cephalopod Deimatic Display, the function of cardiac and ventilatory decreases after sudden stimuli is unknown. It is surprising that ventilation rate and When startled, some animals reduce ventilation rate and heart rate, and become motionless. The function of this response, if any, remains unknown. We used noninvasive ultrasound imaging to monitor the ventilatory, cardiac and postural responses of cuttlefish exposed to sudden visual stimuli. Simultaneously, we recorded cuttlefish behaviour using an overhead video camera. Upon presentation of the sudden visual stimulus (rapidly approaching bird cut-out), cuttlefish rapidly changed the colour and the texture of their skin, taking on characteristics of the Deimatic Display. Cuttlefish also became motionless (behavioural freezing), hyperinflated their mantles, and decreased their ventilation rate and heart rate. We found no evidence of a relationship between the intensity of the Deimatic Display and the intensity of any other measured parameter. Ventilation rate decreased during behavioural freezing. Hyperinflation of the mantle was most intense in preparation for and during behavioural ...

Graded behavioral responses and habituation to sound in the common cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis

“…The deimatic display is usually elicited by visual stimuli, e.g. a model of a predator (King and Adamo, 2006;Cartron et al, 2013) or an actual predator (Langridge et al, 2007;Staudinger et al, 2013), with the purpose of deterring said predator. The observation of deimatic displays in the absence of a visual stimulus suggests that sound could play a role in predator detection by cuttlefish, as surmised by Hanlon and Budelmann (Hanlon and Budelmann, 1987).…”

Feel, smell and see in an egg: emergence of perception and learning in an immature invertebrate, the cuttlefish embryo

“…Mantle contractions are a pumping action involving the entire musculature (Corner, 1977). In adult cuttlefish, variations in the frequency of mantle contractions (Packard and Trueman, 1974) have been shown to be a reliable and measurable response to odors (Boal and Golden, 1999) and visual stimuli (King and Adamo, 2006).…”

Ventilatory responses to skin extract in catfish

“…Hypoventilation is also reported to occur in response to fear in a predator-prey confrontation in cuttlefish (King & Adamo 2006), piauçu fish Leporinus macro cepha lus (Barbosa Júnior et al 2012) and in common sole Solea solea (Cannas et al 2012). We assume that the ventilatory response is likely due to a specific response to an alarm cue rather than a general response to a new scent in the water, because other species dis tinguish between the alarm cue and non-alarm cues (Mirza & Chivers 2000, 2001a,b, 2002, Morishita & Barreto 2011.…”