I have learned two very odd but interesting things about cuttlefish courtesy of the Discovery Channel.
- The cuttlefish does not see as we humans do or even our friends canis familiaris. No, the cuttlefish sees bent light. "Now," you say, "what the hell use would seeing bent light be?" Not much, if you are you or me, but if your food consists of transparent shrimp, seeing bent light just might help you find dinner.
- The other interesting thing about cuttlefish is their manner of catching/attacking said shrimp. The cuttlefish moves all but two of its tentacles up in front of itself, twisted in a strange pattern, such that it really does look from the front like a big mass of tangled seaweed. Now, since it's a cephalopod, it has a siphon propulsion system. This allows it to move forward slowly and silently, still looking like a tangled mass of seaweed. At this point it launches out its last two tentacles from within the others, and grabs the little shrimp with them, pulling it back to its beak with which it crushes and consumes it. Cool, huh?