Cuttlefish May Communicate Using Tentacle Waves, Study Finds

Cuttlefish is known for displaying quite a few number of methods to communicate. The list containing the methods like changing colours and body patterns, releasing ink for courtship displays, males using tentacle motions to show aggression towards other males makes their communication system complex. A new research by Sophie Cohen-Bodénès and Peter Neri, neuroscientists at École Normale Supérieure, in France suggests the possibility of cuttlefish using their tentacles to wave and signal at each other in order to make interaction.

Studying the waving patterns

According to the study, posted on the bioRxiv preprint server, the researchers studied the common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) and the dwarf cuttlefish (Sepia bandensis), observing four consistent arm wave gestures: «up,» «side,» «roll,» and «crown.» When videos of these gestures were shown, cuttlefish often responded by mimicking them—especially when the footage was upright—indicating directional recognition. Additionally, the movements produced vibrational waves in the water. Using a hydrophone, the team recorded these vibrations and found that cuttlefish responded only to original, unaltered versions. This suggests that the sequence of vibrations carries meaning, potentially serving as an alternate communication method when visual cues are blocked.

Interpretations

While the study’s findings are promising, further research is yet to be done to define these arm movements as true communication. Given to Cuttlefish’s social nature, the movement are likely to be communication, but more data is needed to correlate specific signals to the responses. Researchers are thinking of applying machine learning approaches to decipher wave meanings and is developing a robotic cuttlefish to replicate gestures and vibrations, aiming to better understand this potential underwater language.