Kingdom Animalia Genus Sepia Scientific name Sepia officinalis Phylum Mollusca Order Cuttlefish | Family Sepiidae Subgenus Sepia Rank Species Higher classification Sepia | |
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Similar Cuttlefish, Cephalopod, Sepiidae, Molluscs, European squid | ||
Common cuttlefish european common cuttlefish sepia officinalis
The common cuttlefish or European common cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) is one of the largest and best-known cuttlefish species. It grows to 49 cm in mantle length (ML) and 4 kg in weight. Animals from subtropical seas are smaller and rarely exceed 30 cm in ML.
Contents
- Common cuttlefish european common cuttlefish sepia officinalis
- Common cuttlefish on the hunt
- Predators and prey
- Taxonomy
- References
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 to a depth of around 200 m. As in most cuttlefish species, spawning occurs in shallow waters.
Common cuttlefish on the hunt
Predators and prey
Known predators of S. officinalis include large fish (such as monkfish and swordfish, Xiphias gladius) and whales.
In the wild, S. officinalis is known to prey upon a wide variety of animals. These include: bony fish, copepods, crustaceans (including Astacus leptodactylus, Carcinus sp., Crangon sp., Daphnia sp., Gammarus sp., Mugil sp., Mysis sp., Penaeus sp., Praunus sp., Sphaeroma sp., Squilla sp.), decapod cephalopods, gastropods, lamellibranches, nemerteans, octopods, ostracods, polychaetes, and pteropods.
A 2008 study on S. officinalis revealed that cuttlefish embryos, if visually exposed to a certain species of prey (e.g. crabs), will hunt primarily for that prey in later life. S. officinalis usually prefer shrimp to crabs, but when the embryos were exposed to crabs and the embryos had hatched, the young cuttlefish switched preferences and proceeded to hunt the crabs more often than the shrimp.
Taxonomy
It is unknown where the type specimen of S. officinalis was collected, as the location is given simply as "Oceano". It is deposited in the Linnean Society of London.
Sepia officinalis jurujubai Oliveira, 1940, originally described as a subspecies of the common cuttlefish, is a junior synonym of Sepioteuthis sepioidea.
