Quick Change Artists
Standing Out
The Flamboyant cuttlefish,
Metasepia pfefferi, seems like no other. This diminutive
creature, just a few inches long, walks rather than swims, and it
sometimes uses its skin-changing skills to call attention to itself.
Like all cuttlefish, it has pigment-containing cells called
chromatophores, and it changes its skin color by contracting or
expanding the muscles around various chromatophores. But the
Flamboyant often opts for flashy reds and yellows when predators are
near, signalling to them that it is poisonous.