POLARIZATION VISION IN CUTTLEFISH - A CONCEALED COMMUNICATION CHANNEL

Polarization sensitivity is well documented in marine animals, but its function is not yet well understood. Of the cephalopods, squid and oc topus are known to be sensitive to the orientation of polarization of incoming light. This sensitivity arises from the orthogonal orientatio n of neighboring photoreceptors, Electron microscopical examination of the retina of the cuttlefish Sepia officinalis L. revealed the same o rthogonal structure, suggesting that cuttlefish are also sensitive to linearly polarized light, Viewing cuttlefish through an imaging polari zed light analyzer revealed a prominent polarization pattern on the ar ms, around the eyes and on the forehead of the animals. The polarizati on pattern disappeared when individuals lay camouflaged on the bottom and also during extreme aggression display, attacks on prey, copulatio n and egg-laying behavior in females. In behavioral experiments, the r esponses of cuttlefish to their images reflected from a mirror changed when the polarization patterns of the reflected images were distorted . These results suggest that cuttlefish use polarization vision and di splay for intraspecific recognition and communication.