Social recognition using chemical cues in cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis Linnaeus, 1758)

Forty-five full-sized, virgin cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis Linnaeus) were tested for social discriminations on the basis of chemical cues alone. Subjects were tested by placing them in the base of a Y-maze and permitting them to choose between the two arms of the maze, each arm with a different water supply. Each subject was tested three times: once with water from a male versus a female conspecific, once with water from a mated versus a virgin conspecific of the opposite sex, and once using plain seawater in both arms of the Y-maze as a control for any bias towards one of the arms of the maze. Results fail to support hypotheses for chemical communication in cephalopods: difficulties in using approach behavior to measure chemical communication in cephalopod and other mollusks are discussed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.