2023 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
A new approach to address the mystery of cuttlefish camouflage
| Project/Area Number |
22KF0362
|
|---|
| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
|---|
| Research Institution | Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
REITER Samuel 沖縄科学技術大学院大学, 計算行動神経科学ユ ニット, 准教授 (60869155)
|
|---|
| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
ROUX NATACHA 沖縄科学技術大学院大学, 計算行動神経科学ユ ニット, 外国人特別研究員
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
2023-03-08 – 2024-03-31
|
| Keywords | Cuttlefish / camouflage / natural images / statistics / marine biology / neuroscience |
|---|
| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Our work on this project has focused on 3 main topics. (1) Field Data Collection: We conducted diving expeditions, collecting hundreds of natural images from diverse habitats, forming a robust environmental database. Okinawan cuttlefish (Sepia latimanus) live in shallow water around the island, inhabiting at least 3 general habitats: coral reef, sand/coral rubble, and rocks. The typical camouflage pattern the animals adopt depends on the habitat, but also on the local image features in a particular habitat. (2) Camouflage Observation: We recorded images and video of cuttlefish camouflaging within these environments. This proved to be very technically difficult, owing to the high quality of the animals’ camouflage and to the skittish nature of these animals. (3) Statistical Analysis: Ongoing work is analyzing the statistical structure of the underwater natural images and quantifying the nature of camouflage pattern matching with these image statistics. The greatest challenge we face currently is in determining an appropriately high dimensional and accurate metric for camouflage pattern matching.
|
