The Effect of Light on the Buoyancy of the Cuttlefish

Extract

The behaviour of well fed cuttlefish is strikingly affected by light. When the light is bright they usually bury themselves in the gravel at the bottom of their tanks, whilst after twilight they come out of the gravel and swim around until dawn.

Cuttlefish kept in complete darkness for one to two days usually become so buoyant that they are incapable of staying on the bottom and can only remain in mid-water with difficulty.

Animals kept in artificial light and dark showed changes in density which could amount to 2%. These changes come from changes in the volume of the gas space within the cuttlebone.

The density of the cuttlefish is largely governed by light intensity and there is little indication of an inherent diurnal rhythm of density change.

The rate of uptake of liquid when the cuttlefish becomes denser is such that it is unnecessary to assume that any active process is used to pump liquid into the cuttlebone. The cuttlefish must, however, extract liquid actively from the cuttlebone to become less dense.