Cool Critter: The Flamboyant Cuttlefish
Mike BartickThe appearance of a flambo changes rapidly like other cephalopods using chromatophores, leucophores and_ iridophores_ that are imbedded in the skin. These cell structures contain ink pigment that expand and contract to create color changes rapidly matching their immediate surroundings or to flash in colors in an aposematic color scheme to ward off predators.
Mike BartickA stealthy hunter, the flambo moves in for the kill, slowly extending its sticky proboscis to stalk its prey. Once close enough to the victim the extended proboscis snaps like a deadly sticky whip, rarely missing its intended target.
Skin tissue texture shifts and color changes help the flambo to camouflage and ambush its prey while hunting. Slowly creeping about on their adapted stubby tentacles the flambo enjoys a steady diet of shrimp and crustaceans.
Mike BartickA master of camouflage, this solitaire flambo flashes as it glides over the sand hunting for a snack. Flambos are active during the daytime but can be seen at almost anytime of the day or night hunting and scooting round.
Mike BartickA female Flamboyant cuttlefish (Metasepia pfefferi) signals her willingness to mate by flashing a mottled brownish pattern and by extending her mantle flaps. The color variation is common amongst cephalopods and excites the males right away.
Mike BartickThis move is common amongst many species and is known as a mating block. The female (upper right) is being pursued by her two male suitors. The one in the middle is blocking the smaller male’s access to the female with his body. The smaller male darts around trying with all of his might to mate with the sexy female.
Mike BartickAfter battling the other male for the female's attention (in what took well over an hour), the smaller male enjoys a brief 1-2 second interlude with the female. The male (left) passes a sperm packet to the female in a quick act of passion that results in her ability to fertilize a small clutch of eggs (usually 25-50 eggs at most).
Mike BartickA detailed image of the developed ovum that is nearly ready to meet the world. I shot this using a snoot to isolate the egg from the others that surround it. Notice that the tiny flambo inside is pumping with color, this is perhaps to ward off predators looking for easy protein.
Mike BartickA few days later a batch of 25 pearl white eggs where found in a halved coconut shell.
After several weeks each fertilized egg develops into a single translucent casing containing a small cuttlefish. At approximately 35-40 days the embryos have matured enough to hatch (as seen in the photograph).
After days of watching and several hours of observing, a hatchling becomes a juvenile right before my lens and eyes. The first is seconds old as another breaks free of its casing tail first. The colors are vivid and the juvenile is ready for action. Seconds after these shots the rest of the eggs began to hatch and the juveniles all buzzed away beginning their new life.
Mike BartickA hunting juvenile just a minute old is already on the prowl hunting for small shrimp. My dive watch is being used as a scale for size reference in the background.
The Indo-Pacific is home to many colorful and interesting critters but none are quite as Flamboyant as the (Metasepia pfefferi) or Flamboyant cuttlefish, Flambo as we like to call them. A robust and colorful cuttlefish that is small enough to fit into the palm of your hand, but with giant-sized personality.
Flambo’s are a species of cuttlefish that occur throughout the coral triangle, parts of Northern Australia New Guinea and Philippines, and while they are a widespread species, these little gems are considered rare. Gratefully, the population levels of Flambos cannot support any fisheries or collectors in terms of commercial value but what they do offer can be an unforgettable photogenic experience for Photographers, videographers and divers
These smaller cuttlefish inhabit depths that plunge well past the recreational SCUBA limits, but are most often seen by divers when the flambos visit the shallows to hunt and/or seeking a mate. The Flamboyant cuttlefish takes its name (as do other species of cuttlefish) from the cuttlebone (or internalized shell) that is present in this class of cephalopods. This cuttlebone occurs as a large porous bone that actually assists cuttlefish with buoyancy and helps them to manage their depths while hunting, evading threats, laying eggs or any other routine activity.
However in the Flamboyant cuttlefish the cuttle bone is very small and dense and does not assist in buoyancy, forcing the flambo to live out their entire lifecycle walking and roaming around on the see floor. Because of this, the Flambo has adapted to its environment in several interesting ways.
For one its stubby purple tentacles (eight) are more compressed then they are round, forming a paddle like tentacle. Each is equipped with rows of suckers for capturing its prey.
Two of the eight tentacles become much larger and work in conjunction with its bright yellow (Lateral) fins and its jet as a primary source of movement. Like other cephalopods the reproductive hectocotylus is also a modified left ventral arm.
The bright colors flashed when stressed or when warning another of its presence is perhaps the best known and sought after of all of its behaviors.
In addition, its ability to walk, and their toxic muscle tissue (only one of three toxic cephelapods) are just a few more of the adapted characteristics of a flamboyant cuttlefish. The toxin contained in a Flambo is a unique toxin as deadly as TTX the toxin found in a Blue Ringed Octopus and is still undergoing research.
