Ben Burford was awarded the "Highly Commended Student Poster" at the 15th Deep-Sea Biology Symposium in Monterey
Visual signaling by a group-forming squid in the deep sea
B.P. Burford, Robison, B.H.
1. Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, 120 Ocean View Blvd. Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA 2. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, 7700 Sandholdt Rd. Moss Landing, CA 95039-9644, USA
Several species of squid inhabiting the mesopelagic zone of the deep sea display repertoires of visual behaviors comparable to or exceeding those performed by their shallow-water counterparts. However, it largely remains unknown for what the deep-water species, which spend the majority of their lives in a dimly-lit or totally dark environment, use their remarkable visual displays. In the mesopelagic of the California Current System, we used cameras mounted on Remotely Operated Vehicles to document the Humboldt squid, Dosidicus gigas, to display sets of postures, colors, and locomotion when foraging vs. not foraging, and in higher vs. lower conspecific densities. The patterns of subcutaneous photophore density in D. gigas muscle tissue align with the color-changing displays that appear important for visual signaling. Our results not only support the hypothesis that inter- and intraspecific communication are potential explanations for the evolution and maintenance of diverse visual behaviors in deep-sea cephalopods, but also imply a potential mechanism by which complex visual behaviors are relevant in the darkness of the deep sea.
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