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Sepia officinalis
They grow to around 40-50 cm in mantle length and 4 kg in weight.
The common cuttlefish is native to at least the Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, and Baltic Sea, although subspecies have been proposed as far south as South Africa. It lives on sand and mud seabeds and can tolerate brackish water conditions. They are a migratory species that spend the summer and spring inshore for spawning and then move to depths of 100 to 200m during autumn and winter.
Cuttlefish are well known for their unmatched camouflaging abilities which are possible due to light scattering leucophores, pigmented chromatophore organs, and structurally reflecting iridophores all located in their skin. These specialized characteristics give them the ability to not only change their colour, but also change the texture appearance of their skin and all of this is done despite them being colour-blind. Sepia officinalis is a species that is commonly fished in the Mediterranean, including countries like Greece and Spain.
Spotted on May 14, 2018
Submitted on May 14, 2018
4 Comments
Thanks Mark :)
Beautiful image Marek.
Thanks Ashley 😀
Your spotting has been nominated for the Spotting of the Week. The winner will be chosen by the Project Noah Rangers based on a combination of factors including: uniqueness of the shot, status of the organism (for example, rare or endangered), quality of the information provided in the habitat and description sections. There is a subjective element, of course; the spotting with the highest number of Ranger votes is chosen. Congratulations on being nominated!