Roger Hanlon is a scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. He studies cephalopods—octopus, squid, and cuttlefish. Specifically, he studies the way these animals change their skin color and texture to match with their surroundings.
I’ve talked about his research before on BoingBoing Video and showed you some truly astounding footage he shot of a bunch of kelp that suddenly turns out to be a disguised octopus.
In this video segment from NPR’s Science Friday, you can see more of Hanlon’s videos of camouflaged cephalopods. There’s also some great up-close footage of chromatophores—the special cells that allow cephalopods to change their color and shape.
Thanks to Andrea James for sending this over!