Background selection for camouflage shifts in accordance with color change in an intertidal prawn.

To maximize camouflage across visually heterogeneous habitats, animals have evolved a variety of strategies, including polyphenism, color change, and behavioral background matching. Despite the expected importance of behavioral processes for mediating camouflage, such as selection for matching substrates, behavior has received less attention than color traits themselves, and interactions between color change and behavior are largely unexplored. Here, we investigated behavioral background matching in green and red chameleon prawns () over the course of a color change experiment.

Finding a signal hidden among noise: how can predators overcome camouflage strategies?

Substantial progress has been made in the past 15 years regarding how prey use a variety of visual camouflage types to exploit both predator visual processing and cognition, including background matching, disruptive coloration, countershading and masquerade. By contrast, much less attention has been paid to how predators might overcome these defences. Such strategies include the evolution of more acute senses, the co-opting of other senses not targeted by camouflage, changes in cognition such as forming search images, and using behaviours that change the relationship between the cryptic individual and the environment or disturb prey and cause movement.

Colour change and behavioural choice facilitate chameleon prawn camouflage against different seaweed backgrounds.

Camouflage is driven by matching the visual environment, yet natural habitats are rarely uniform and comprise many backgrounds. Therefore, species often exhibit adaptive traits to maintain crypsis, including colour change and behavioural choice of substrates. However, previous work largely considered these solutions in isolation, whereas many species may use a combination of behaviour and appearance to facilitate concealment.