Joel Kontinen
Cuttlefish stop breathing when a shark approaches them. This basically makes them invisible.
A paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows that predators were very unlikely to detect cuttlefish that held their breath. An article in Science states:
“When the frightened creatures froze in place and covered the cavity leading to the gills with their tentacles, the voltage in the water nearby dropped by about 80%.”
This made it very difficult for sharks to find them.
Animal intelligence should remind us that the One who made them was not a blind watchmaker but the Almighty Creator who planned every small detail.
Other examples of animal intelligence or amazing skills include the following:
- Darwin’s finches make their own insect repellent.
- Bowerbirds can mimic practically anything.
- The octopus is an “eight-legged marvel."
Source:
Perkins. Sid. 2015. When cuttlefish hold their breath, they become nearly invisible to sharks. Science (1 December).
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