Intraspecific behavior

[DHyslop]

A couple times I've noticed one of my cuttles (Chubbs) turn a mottled brown, elongate his body, and extend his arms rigidly outward when his companion approached. Checkers doesn't seem to mind. Since the cuttles are only two months old I can't imagine this is a sexual display.

I can't imagine that Chubbs has any sort of a grudge against Checkers either, since about 20 minutes later this afternoon he walked over to Checkers (who had just finished eating a small shrimp) and climbed underneath him so that Checkers' arms and head were resting on his mantle. They truly are cuddlefish!

Do any of the rest of you observe similar behavior?

Dan

 

[Nancy]

Very interesting reports, Dan. I hope someone can explain what this behavior means.

Nancy

 

[WhiteKiboko]

i'll look through one of my books and see if i see anything.... what species are they?

 

[DHyslop]

They're bandensis. I was hoping Righ-err, Thales might have seen some of this.

 

[Colin]

Does it look like the feeding pose when they are getting ready to strike at prey? I have seen them do that fairly frequently. I just assumed it was just in case the approaching object was edible?

 

[DHyslop]

Not really. When they're about to feed their arms are extended forward and angled inward to a point. In this instance his arms are pointed forward but angled outward and slightly bent.

Dan

 

[Thales]

Like this?

 

[Paradox]

Ive seen them stretch thier feeding tentacles out, but to me it seemed they were doing just that...Stretching. When I see this, Ive never noticed it to be related to any interaction with another cuttle.

At 2 months old, Ive never seen sexual advances or aggressive patterns displayed like Thales image above..

 

[DHyslop]

He stretches his arms similar to the uppermost one in the photo, but he doesn't have that unusually dark coloration.

 

[DHyslop]

Wow!

Now the other one responds. Checkers will approach Chubbs, who will put on his show, and Checkers will do similar and they might swim around a little bit like this. Just like in Thale's pics and videos.

Its amazing, its like they become completely different animals.

I'm going to spend some time this evening looking at all the videos and reading all the material I can find again, just to convince myself this isn't a prelude to combat. Tomorrow I'll release them in the main tank so they have a bit more space.

Dan

 

[Thales]

He stretches his arms similar to the uppermost one in the photo, but he doesn't have that unusually dark coloration.

I think that is just adolescent facing off. I have seen lots of it.

 

[DHyslop]

That makes me feel better. I made a divider out of PVC, eggcrate and fiberglass window screening and released them into a 12" x 18" section of tank just now. They're still a bit nervous, but starting to settle in.

Dan