Animals Can Change Color, Too!

The air is cooler and the leaves are crisper, which can only point to one thing: it’s fall! As the seasons change and leaves turn from vibrant green to burnt orange and fiery red, have you ever wondered how animals adapt to these shifting surroundings?

In deep waters or shallow rivers, animals use incredible camouflage adaptations to blend into their environments. Whether they’re mimicking seaweed, hiding amongst rocks or shifting to match the colors around them, these creatures are experts at staying hidden

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A flamboyant cuttlefish's small bumpy body is dramatically striped and colored in black, white, and yellow.

1. Flamboyant cuttlefish

Flamboyant cuttlefish (Ascarosepion pfefferi) can rapidly change the color of its skin using chromatophores, which are pigment-containing cells in cold-blooded animals. Cuttlefish use this for many reasons, either to attract a potential mate or warn predators to back off.

You can find the flamboyant cuttlefish in their sandy habitat in Wild Reef.

A giant Pacific octopus with eight arms covered in round, grasping suckers spread out to feel its habitat.

2. Octopus

Like other cephalopods, octopuses are also able to camouflage in an instant, changing color, brightness and pattern in a flash! This helps the soft-bodied animal hide from nearby predators. Not only can octopuses change their coloring, but they can also adjust skin texture to blend into their environments like a rocky seafloor!

At Shedd, visit the captivating giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) in the Oceans gallery.

The professionals of camouflage

While not all animals possess the ability to change their color, many animals can adapt to their environment by using camouflage adaptations! All around the aquarium, plenty of species artfully blend into their rocky, weedy and sandy habitats.

A seadragon, fin-like fronds on its body helping it blend in to its environment.

3. Weedy seadragon

As their name suggests, weedy seadragons (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus) use their leaf-life appearance to blend into the world around them. With their bright coloring and stripes and spots, it may be surprising that these creatures can blend in so well. However, these unique markings help them mimic swaying seaweed on the ocean floor, making them masters of disguise in the underwater world!

This is an essential skill for weedy seadragons. They aren’t particularly fast or agile, so they rely on camouflage for their protection against predators. Watch the weedy seadragons float gracefully through their habitat in the Oceans gallery.

Lumpy yellow-orange fish with a wide mouth and thick fins used for walking.

4. Warty frogfish

The warty frogfish (Antennarius maculatus) uses the natural bumpy texture of its skin to blend into rocks. Natural colors like white, yellow, red and brown mimic sponges, coral or even rocks on tropical reefs. With such clever camouflage, this small fish can be tricky to spot!

Try your hand at spotting the warty frog fish in Wild Reef.