Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2109, Australia.
Biol Lett. 2012 Oct 23;8(5):729-32. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2012.0435. Epub 2012 Jul 4.
Signals in intraspecific communication should be inherently honest; otherwise the system is prone to collapse. Theory predicts, however, that honest signalling systems are susceptible to invasion by cheats, the extent of which is largely mediated by fear of reprisal. Cuttlefish facultatively change their shape and colour, an ability that evolved to avoid predators and capture prey. Here, we show that this ability is tactically employed by male mourning cuttlefish (Sepia plangon) to mislead conspecifics during courtship in a specific social context amenable to cheating 39 per cent of the time, while it was never employed in other social contexts. Males deceive rival males by displaying male courtship patterns to receptive females on one side of the body, and simultaneously displaying female patterns to a single rival male on the other, thus preventing the rival from disrupting courtship. The use of tactical deception in such a complex communication network indicates that sociality has played a key role in the cognitive evolution of cephalopods.
种内通讯信号应该是内在诚实的；否则，该系统很容易崩溃。然而，理论预测，诚实的信号系统容易受到骗子的入侵，其程度在很大程度上受到报复恐惧的调节。乌贼可以根据需要改变形状和颜色，这种能力是为了逃避捕食者和捕捉猎物而进化出来的。在这里，我们表明，这种能力是雄性哀悼乌贼（Sepia plangon）在特定的社交环境中在求爱期间用于误导同种动物的策略，在这种环境中，欺骗的可能性为 39%，而在其他社交环境中则从未使用过。雄性通过在身体的一侧向雌性展示雄性求爱模式，同时在另一侧向单个雄性对手展示雌性模式，从而阻止对手破坏求爱，从而欺骗竞争对手雄性。在如此复杂的通讯网络中使用策略性欺骗表明，社会性在头足类动物的认知进化中发挥了关键作用。
