'Chameleon of the Sea' May Reveal Answers Behind Better Soldier Camouflage

The cuttlefish, otherwise known as the "chameleon of the sea," has the unique ability to change the color and pattern of its skin to avoid being hunted by predators. Now, researchers at Harvard University believe that this characteristic can help provide insight to develop better protective camouflage for soldiers.

Chromatophores are the neural organs that allow the cuttlefish to disguise itself in response to visual cues. These chromatophores are activated when the fish's other two optical components align. They include the leucophore: a near-perfect light scatterer that reflects light uniformly over the entire visible spectrum; and the iridophore: a reflector made up of a stack of thin films. These allow the cuttlefish to absorb or reflect the light of nearby colors, thus blending it in with the environment.

Leila Deravi is a research associate of bioengineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) as well as a co-author of this study. She explains the previous and current understanding of the cuttlefish's chromatophores in this Science Recorder article: "Chromatophores were previously considered to be pigmentary organs that acted simply as selective color filters. But our results suggest that they play a more complex role; they contain luminescent protein nanostructures that enable the cuttlefish to make quick and elaborate changes in its skin pigmentation."

Although adaptive camouflage has been discovered and scientifically demonstrated a long time ago, the new challenge, based on the information provided by the cuttlefish, is to "reverse-engineer this system in a cost-efficient, synthetic system that is amenable to mass manufacturing," said Kevin Kit Parker, a Professor of Bioengineers and Applied Physics at Harvard SEAS, in the Science Recorder article.

Parker is a combat veteran who believes that the adaptation and utilization of this biological function can help save many lives on the battlefield. After the findings of this study, scientists will be looking to implement it as soon as they can.

To read more about the study, check out the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.