Cuttlefish embryos can spot prey
Before cuttlefish embryos even hatch, they look through their translucent eggs to learn to identify their future prey. Researchers at the University of Caen Basse-Normandy put crabs in a tank with cuttlefish eggs. Once the cuttlefish hatched, they were released into a tank with both shrimp and crabs. The cuttlefish that previously saw the crabs through their eggs had a taste for them. Cuttlefish that weren't exposed to the crabs as embryos preferred to eat the shrimp. From the BBC News:
Link (Thanks, Greg Benjamin!)...Unborn cuttlefish... have fully developed eyes. That leads the researchers to conclude that the cuttlefish embryos must peer through their eggs, and learn to recognise their prey, a behaviour which will help give them a head-start in life.
It is less likely that birds, reptiles and, particularly, mammals - including humans - could recognise visual images in the womb.
But the cuttlefish discovery helps reinforce the idea that some animals at least can begin to learn before they are born.
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Shhh.... Don't let the pro-lifers hear about this one...
how many comments below before someone suggests Roe v Wade should be overturned because Cuttlefish embryos can see? i'm figuring about three down from here (and five to the right)
I'm perfectly content to allow a full ban on cuttlefish abortions. I'm all about reasonable appeasement.
We already knew that some animals could learn before they are born, to wit: us.
There are dozens of studies showing that human fetuses learn to prefer both the sound of their mother's voice and of their soon-to-be-native language while still in the womb (the latter suggesting that human fetuses already start to work out which set of phonemes are used in their mother tongue compared to other languages). There is also evidence that babies prefer to hear stories or songs that were spoken to them while they were still in the womb.
I wouldn't be surprised if other primate fetuses were capable of similar feats.
Of course, our brains start learning much more interesting stuff once we're out, which is why human babies are born so prematurely, compared with other animals.
Business opportunity - prenatal flash cards. Shine a powerful light on Mom's belly and tell people it goes right through Mom's skin and the baby can learn to read before it's born. People will believe it, buy it, and even provide you with testimonials proving it's true. Then they'll lobby congress for you demanding that they stop ignoring this important technology or else we're all doomed.
Time until this picture shows up on I Can Has Cheezburger with the caption "Nom...?" is five, four, three....
There's a difference between learning and imprinting.
Adding to #4: there's a great book called "Lucy's Legacy" about human behavior and evolution, written by a primatologist. The author points out that human babies are born much less developed than those of even our closest primate relatives, perhaps allowing more of our brains to develop in the presence of sensory input.
Wait - Isn't this kind of a wild assumption that they learn by looking through the eggs? Until there's an experiment with a control group of eggs that had the view from the eggs blocked (dyed? encased?) it doesn't have much more merit than someone's speculation.
That's the cutest thing ever (in a translucent slime sack).
precocious little darlings....
If you really want any pro-life person to get angry, ask them how they feel about suicide.
But back to the cuttlefish... Yeah. I wonder if Sharks can do the same thing. Fish have eyes inside the eggs too.
@9 - Maybe it's some sort of pheromone-type thing or other chemical signal in the water that can get into the egg to pre-condition the embryo, rather than them actually *seeing* the crabs? They could do a control with the eggs and crabs separated by a clear divider or something - if the result is the same, maybe they are actually seeing!
Cuttlefish are really nifty little critters as adults, too. A friend of mine did a journal club session on them recently and found a lot of interesting info on how they use their camouflaging ability here.
almost every creature that is born - whether out of a pupa, an egg or a womb - has already done the vast majority of the development that's needed to survive independently in the outside world by the time it gets squeezed out into it. the idea that "un-born" means "un-developed" is a concept that only we anthropomorphising humans could have come up with.
we big-brained, slow-to-develop humans are an anomoly on the planet.
this is simply more proof that there are myriad skills, mechanisms and intellegences out there in the natural world (yay evolution! yay natural selection!). we don't always have to compare or attempt to relate them to our own unique human reality.
please please please let's hope this study isn't hijacked by the anti-choice camp.
#13ETA - D'oh - they actually did separate them to rule out chemical signals. It's interesting that the "clearer" their view through the glass the greater the preference after they hatched - makes the "seeing" conclusion more credible, I think.
Giger, aliens, cuttlefish. Creepy.
Aww, cool!
Cuttlefish are, as Uncle Takuan says, darling. One of my favorite marine creatures. I used to have a cuttlefish beanie.
I wouldn't worry about the study being hijacked by the pro-slavery crowd. As anti-freedom and anti-choice types, they don't really need any facts or studies. They just make up what they want to screech and screech it anyway, at least when they aren't busy bombing hospitals or shooting doctors.
Am I the only one who thinks that fellar looks exactly like a Guild Navigator?
Paging Maud'Dib, paging Maud'Dib...
http://jonudell.net/talks/lib2020/Guild_Navigator.jpg
Along with Tak and Tenn, I'm a cuttlefish lover.
Never met a ceph I didn't like.
Cephalopods tend to kind of creep me out, but cuttlefish are an exception. Those things are awesome, and pretty adorable. I'd like to have a plush toy version (It could play with my Giant Microbes!), but I've never found one that looked enough like an actual cuttlefish.
I was at the National Zoo once and one of the employees was with a tour group and he was prodding the cuttlefish lightly so that they'd swim around and change colors. I felt kind of bad for them, but it was pretty awesome to watch anyway.
The color changes of squid cuttlefish octopi etc. really do have to be seen to be believed - cameras just cannot capture the iridesence(sp) of their displays...
You think that's amazing? They have eight arms too!
I, for one, welcome our new cephalopod overlords.
#24: In my experience, cuttlefish are far superior to octopuses in terms of color-changing ability; the color washes over them instantaneously. I lurv them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNXwXo3t3Cw
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