~ JOURNAL OF -~ . EXPERIMENTAL MARINE BIOLOGY .. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, AND ECOLOGY ELSEVIER 230 (1998) 183-192 Social recognition using chemical cues in cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis Linnaeus, 1758) J.G. Boa1*, SoB. Marsh Marine Biomedical Institute, University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Boulevard, Galveston, TX 77555-1163, USA Received 23 June 1997; received in revised form 9 January 1998; accepted 23 March 1998 Abstract Forty-five full-sized, virgin cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis Linnaeus) were tested for social discriminations on the basis of chemical cues alone. Subjects were tested by placing them in the base of a Y -maze and permitting them to choose between the two arms of the maze, each arm with a different water supply. Each subject was tested three times: once with water from a male versus a female conspecific, once with water from a mated versus a virgin conspecific of the opposite sex, and once using plain seawater in both arms of the Y -maze as a control for any bias towards one of the arms of the maze. Results fail to support hypotheses for chemical communication in cephalopods; difficulties in using approach behavior to measure chemical communication in cephalopod and other mollusks are discussed. @ 1998Elsevier Science B:V:All rights reserved. Keywords: Communication; Mollusks; Pheromones; Reproduction; Social behavior , 1. Introduction The coleiod cephalopods (octopuses, cuttlefishes and squids) have beenconsidered to be primarily visual animals. In behavioral reviews, emphasis has been placed on the importance of visual body patterning for social communication (Hanlon and Messenger, 1996)and chemicalcues havenot been thoughtto be of greatsignificance to cephalopod behavior (Budelmann, 1994;but see below). Sensory receptors on the suckers of octopus arms were described decades ago (Graziadei, 1964), however, and Wells showedthat \ ~ *Corresponding author. Tel.: +01-409-772-2133; fax: +01-409-772-6993; e-mail: jgboal@utmb.edu ".,;,~ 0022-0981/98/$ - see front matter @ 1998 Elsevier Science B:V. All rights reserved. -,-c:-:;; PII: SO022-0981(98)00068-9 ~~ -- .c ;,.