Cuttlefish are opportunistic hunters and active predators feeding mostly on live prey. They are capable of capturing large and very mobile prey including shrimps, fish, crabs, other crustaceans and other cephalopods. Their diet is flexible in order that they might survive when usual prey is unavailable. Cuttlefish tend to feed at dawn and dusk.
During development, generally fish are the primary source of food in the first stage. Then they move to amphipods for about three months, and moving to crustacea during the reproduction stage.
Cuttlefish are able to shoot out their two tentacles at extremely fast speeds in order to grab their prey. The suckers on their tentacles suction to the prey and the cuttlefish drags the pray in. They then pull the prey into their mouths where it is killed by venom, shredded, swallowed and digested.
Cuttlefish also have a unique and impressive strategy to catch the more mobile prey. They possess the ability to perform a sort of "hypnosis."
During development, generally fish are the primary source of food in the first stage. Then they move to amphipods for about three months, and moving to crustacea during the reproduction stage.
Cuttlefish are able to shoot out their two tentacles at extremely fast speeds in order to grab their prey. The suckers on their tentacles suction to the prey and the cuttlefish drags the pray in. They then pull the prey into their mouths where it is killed by venom, shredded, swallowed and digested.
Cuttlefish also have a unique and impressive strategy to catch the more mobile prey. They possess the ability to perform a sort of "hypnosis."
Hypnosis
Cuttlefish will use their bioluminescence to create a sort of hypnosis on their prey. It's an incredibly impressive show. Who could resist?
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Sources
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Webber DM, Aitkin JP, O’Dor RK. 2000. Costs of locomotion and vertic dynamics of cephalopods and fish. Chicago Journals: Physiology
and Biochemical Zoology. [Internet]. [cited 2013 April 28]; 73(6). Available from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/318100#rid_rf2
NOVA: Anatomy of a cuttlefish [Internet]. c2007. St. Paul (MN): PBS: [cited 2013 April 29]. Available from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/camo/anat-nf.html
du Sel GP, Blanc A, Daguzan J. 2000. The diet of the cuttlefish Sepia officinalis L. (mollusca:cephalopoda) during its life cycle in the Northern Bay of Biscay (France). Aquat Sci [Internet]
[cited 2013 April 29]; 62(2):167-178. Available from: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FPL00001329#page-1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1T4ZgkCuiM