Cuttlefish Super Power
Story by Eden Washington, a 6th grade reporter for FNN at Friendship Public Charter School Online. Photos from Google.
April 27, 2021. Initially, when I heard the name cuttlefish, I thought “Cuddlefish” and that the species was going to be cute in a Nemo or Dori sort of way, but I soon discovered that these molluscs are anything but that. Cuttlefish are of the Cephalopod class and relatives of squid, octopuses, and nautiluses. According to Wikipedia, “cuttlefish have a unique internal shell, the cuttlebone, which is used for control of buoyancy. Though some of them may appear to be cute (if you like that sort of thing), don’t believe your lying eyes. They are intelligent creatures with a superpower I wished I possessed.
Off the coast of Malta, you will find this molluscus, creatures that are considered to be among the most intelligent invertebrates. Cuttlefish also have one of the largest brain-to-body size ratios of invertebrates. These creatures are able to count and reason as to which palette of tasty shrimp will be most satisfying to them by counting, even if you mix up the number of shrimp and space them apart, they still go for the offering with the greatest number of shrimp. Guess you’ll have to get up a little earlier to fool these invertebrates, as they can do basic math and can count on a first grade level. It’s hard to not find a smart animal that’s appealing even if their appearance isn’t all that pleasing, but these molluscus have an enviable super power.
Cuttlefish are able to blend in with their surroundings for security reasons as well as strategy when hunting for other mollusks to eat. If you’re a diver, you may swim past a few and not even realize it, as they blend in with rocks, vegetation, or any other colorful/colorless surface nearby. If I were to have a super power, it would be to shapeshift and blend in with my surroundings when necessary. People actually eat this molluscus as well but don’t expect any of their super powers to sync with your DNA.
Eden Washington is a 6th grade scholar at Friendship Public Charter School Online.