The chromatophores that dot this pygmy squid offer colour-coded signals of the cephalopod's capricious state of mind. At times pale and nearly translucent, the pigment cells blush to black when the tiny mollusc feels the shadow of fearful fascination. But in the early hours of a long evening at Tanah Merah, this inch-long sac of ink was in the mood for food. Putting on a coat of camouflage that channeled the skill of larger hunters, the squid snared a shrimp from the sandy bottom, where careless gangs of decapods tango at long arm's length and trust too much in their transparent shells to mind the jaws of a mythical monster in miniature.
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