SHORT COMMUNICATION NEURAL CORRELATES OF COLOUR CHANGE IN CUTTLEFISH

This paper presents the first direct demonstration in a living cephalopod of neural activity associated with chromatic behaviour. It has long been known that colour change in these molluscs is unique in that it is brought about by chromatophores controlled neurally rather than hormonally (e.g. Hofmann, 1907). The chromato-phore muscles are innervated directly by nerves whose cell bodies lie in the brain itself (Sereni & Young, 1932; Boycott, 1953); the muscles respond tetanically when these motoneurones are stimulated above 10-15 Hz (Florey, 1966); electrical stimu-lation in the chromatophore lobes of the brain causes darkening of the skin (Boycott, 1961); stimulation in the optic lobes can elicit patterning (the expansion of some sets of chromatophores and the simultaneous retraction of others) (Boycott, 1961; Chichery & Chanelet, 1976). Darkening, paling and patterning can also be elicited by introducing specific neurotransmitters into the blood supplying the brain (Andrews, Messenger & Tansey, 1983). But until now no-one has successfully recorded from the nerves supplying a specific set of chromatophores in the living animal and shown changes in activity as the display is switched on and off