Absence of social recognition in laboratory-reared cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis L (Mollusca: Cephalopoda)

Five experiments were performed to determine the level of social recognition in captive-reared adult cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis L. No evidence of discrimination of familiar from unfamiliar individuals was found in either females or males. Despite good evidence for mate guarding, no recognition of individual mates was found. Within sex classes, associations between freely moving animals were not different from random (f-f, f-m and m-m). Male dominance, measured by displacement success, was consistent from day to day, was related to size and was consistent with number of copulations obtained. Dominance ranks were not learned or recognized and did not result in energy savings through a reduction in agonistic encounters. Social interactions of these marine invertebrates depend upon relative size, internal motivation and the behaviour patterns of conspecifics, rather than upon any direct recognition of social partners. (C) 1996 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour