Common cuttlefish
Sepia officinalis
- Scientific name
- Sepia officinalis
- Group
- Cephalopods
- Rarity
- Common
- Where to see it
- Mediterranean, Temperate Atlantic / English Channel
- Conservation status (IUCN)
- Least concern
Did you know?
The common cuttlefish communicates and camouflages itself using skin cells called chromatophores, which can change color and pattern instantly. It has a porous internal shell, the cuttlebone, that helps it control its buoyancy.
What defines this group — Cephalopods
Octopuses, cuttlefish, squid and nautiluses: molluscs that became the most intelligent invertebrates.
- Eight arms — ten in cuttlefish and squid — set around a horny beak.
- Skin cells called chromatophores change colour and texture in a fraction of a second.
- Three hearts, and blue blood that carries oxygen with copper rather than iron.