Common cuttlefish
Sepia officinalis
— Where the name comes from
From the Greek sēpía. The name passed to the colour: cuttlefish ink, the sepia of drawings and of yellowed photographs. Officinalis, Latin, marks it as a species of pharmaceutical and artistic use.
— Facts
- Group
- Molluscs · Mollusca
- Order
- Cuttlefishes
- Habitat
- Sandy bottoms and underwater meadows
- Range
- The Mediterranean, the eastern Atlantic, the North Sea
- Size
- 30–45 cm, up to 4 kg
- Diet
- Carnivore — crustaceans, fish
- Lifespan
- 1–2 years
— Characteristics
- 01
The skin holds millions of chromatophores under direct nervous control.
- 02
The internal cuttlebone is a porous structure for buoyancy.
- 03
Two extensible tentacles shoot out at prey in thirty milliseconds.
— What sets it apart
In courtship a small male can display female colours on the side facing the dominant male and male colours on the side facing the female, at the same time. He courts with one half of his body and lies with the other. No other animal known sends two opposite messages in the same instant to two different recipients.
