  To enter the kingdom of the giant Australian cuttlefish is to encroach upon a world of shifting form and color, of elegant motion and shimmering communicative displays. At first glance, these intelligent cephalopods may appear to live a life of otherworldly serenity, awash in pulsating colors and afloat on a skirt of undulating fins. Yet in a split second, they can dart away on a jet of propelled water. They can swap their smooth skin and dreamscape coloration for the texture and pigmentation of sand.
The Life film crew infiltrated the world of these enigmatic creatures, capturing stunning footage of the cycles and conflicts that perpetuate their numbers.
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Watch a "Cuttlefish Ward Off Rivals"
CUTTLEFISH WARFARE
Cuttlefish are typically loners, but each year between April and July they abandon their solitary pursuits and gather to mate. Males stake out the smaller females and express both their desire to mate and to fight off any rivals through a complex flash of color. As
Life producer Neil Lucas explained, their rapid color changes and high intelligence converge in one of the world's most complicated forms of marine communication.
"They can change color and patterns within a fraction of a second, so a cuttlefish that was almost white at one point can suddenly be very deep purple," Lucas said. "You start to see them pulsing and threatening each other. So it's almost like semaphore, in which warships used to wave flags at each other to spell words. This is what the cuttlefish are doing, and they're signaling to each other saying, 'Look, stay away this is mine' or 'I'm bigger than you so you're not going to get in there.'"
When threats fail, the male cuttlefish come to blows, lashing out at each other with flashes of yawning tentacles. They latch onto each other, tugging, grappling and rolling their bodies for dominance. As dramatic as these displays appear in
Life, the damage is typically minimal. Actual physical violence is a last resort.
"They'd rather try and push each other away with these very elaborate skin changes and pattern," Lucas said. "So it's almost like in the Michael Jackson 'Beat It' video, where the two rival gangs come together and have a dance off. That's how I always saw it."
Continue: The Mating Game
