The humble cuttlefish might appear to be nothing more than the lovable puppy of the seas but that’s probably got something to do with the fact you’ve never seen it hunt.
With their adaptive camouflage, lightning fast reflexes and venom, the cuttlefish is actually a state-of-the-art underwater predator.
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ullstein bild via Getty Images
Hiding on the ocean floor, the cuttlefish can adapt its appearance to better suit the surroundings.
When an unsuspecting fish gets too close it will burst out of the sand, fire out two long feeding tentacles which both contain powerful suckers.
Once latched on some cuttlefish will then deliver a powerful venom to paralyse the fish before finally pulling it towards its beak and devouring it.
So there you have it, while they might be shy towards us, cuttlefish are about as ruthless as it gets.
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Coolest Science Photos of the Decade:
2015
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2014
NASA, ESA, H. Teplitz and M. Rafelski (IPAC/Caltech), A. Koekemoer (STScI), R. Windhorst (Arizona State University), and Z. Levay (STScI)
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope assembled a comprehensive picture of the evolving universe -- among the most colorful deep space images ever captured by the 25-year-old telescope. The image was released on June 3, 2014.
2013
NASA
NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins snapped a selfie while completing a spacewalk outside of the Earth-orbiting International Space Station on Dec. 24, 2013.
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2012
Hadoram Shirihai/Tubenoses project
A rare Mascarene petrel with an egg-shaped bulge in its middle. Photographed in 2012 by researchers near Reunion, an island off the coast of Madagascar, it was said to be the first to show a bird flying with a visible "baby bump."
2011
Wikimedia Commons: Wtop.com
In 2011, a female Celebes crested macaque (Macaca nigra) in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, decided to pick up British wildlife photographer David Slater's camera and take a selfie.
2010
NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)
A stunning scanning electron micrograph of a human T lymphocyte (also called a T cell) from the immune system of a healthy donor, taken on May 24, 2010.
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2009
Sung Hoon Kang, Joanna Aizenberg and Boaz Pokroy; Harvard University
An electron microscope photograph shows self-assembling hair-like polymers around a polystyrene sphere, about two micrometers in diameter. It won first place in the National Science Foundation's 2009 International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge.
2008
NASA
Hurricane Ike covers more than half of Cuba. It was taken by the Expedition 17 crew aboard the International Space Station from a vantage point of 220 miles above Earth, on September 9, 2008.
2007
Gloria Kwon/NIKON Small World
A close-up look at a double transgenic mouse embryo, just 18.5 days old. The photo won first place in Nikon's 2007 Small World Photomicrography Competition.
