TPO 13 - Question 6

A sample Answer to this speaking in text:

The professor talks about two kinds of camouflage which are permanent camouflage and temporary camouflage. She talks about permanent ones first. Leafy sea dragon has leaf-like protrusions sticking out its body. When it’s near the leafy part of the ocean floor, it blends in really well, but because this camouflage is permanent, when the sea dragon leaves the leafy surrounding, it can be spotted very easily. The second kind of camouflage is temporary, meaning it can change according the environment. Take the cuttlefish for example, it has color shifting pigments in its skin, so it can change color. When it’s near green sea plant, it’ll turn green, when it’s on the seafloor, it’ll turn brown.

1. Now many sea animals, in order to hide from predators, have, over time, developed different kinds of camouflage to help them blend in with their environment and avoid detection by predators.
2. Picture the surface of the sea floor.
3. It's as varied as the land we live on.
4. It's got peaks and valleys, vegetation, rocky areas, and some sea animals have developed permanent colors or shapes to resemble these environmental features.
5. This camouflage helps disguise them from predators by enabling them to blend into a specific part of the sea.
6. For instance, take a kind of fish, like the leafy sea dragon.
7. Well the name says it all.
8. It resembles a small green dragon with leaf-like protrusions sticking out like arms.
9. And because of its color and shape, it blends in extremely well with green sea plants.
10. So when the leafy sea dragon is swimming through these plants, predators have trouble seeing it.
11. But when it enters other environments without these green plants, its camouflage doesn't work anymore.
12. Now other sea animals are difficult to spot anywhere in the sea because their type of camouflage enables them to change color.
13. Take the cuddle fish, a fish that's closely related to the squid and octopus.
14. Unlike leafy sea dragons, cuddle fish have not developed any particular shape to hide from predators, but they have a lot more mobility because their camouflage allows them to blend into any environment because cuddle fish have shifting pigments that allow them to change color in a matter of seconds.
15. And so they can almost instantaneously match the color of their surroundings.
16. If they are swimming by green sea plants, they'll turn green, and if they are swimming over the brown sea floor, they'll turn brown.