A just-hatched pyjama squid (Sepioloidea lineolata), not yet a day oldBRITTANY GROUGE The patterns on pyjama squid (Sepioloidea lineolata) are made up of chromatophores—pigmented cells that can expose or hide their color as they expand and retract, respec tively.

According to graduate student Brittany Grouge of George Mason University, S.lineolata hatchlings develop color-changing abilities as they grow. “[T]he chromatophore movement comes with the animal aging and learning its environment,” says Grouge in an email to The Scientist.

This video was taken at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, as part of a 2017 embryology course.

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