Largest Sepia officinalis

[thom]

Breeding season of the common cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis (L., 1758), has started again here in the Netherlands. Earlier this week the largest recorded specimen around these parts washed ashore on a beach near The Hague. It’s male, 32cm mantle length and 60cm total excluding feeding tentacles. If anyone is interested, they will be displaying the animal at the national museum of natural history in Leiden (NATURALIS), from May 21-29.

Here’s a link to the article with pictures at the bottom. Mind you, the article is in Dutch


Article
Picture 1
Picture 2

Cheers all,
Thomas.

(edit, forgot to say it weighs almost 4 kilos)

 

[DHyslop]

Can I keep one of these in a 29 gallon system?

Dan

 

[chrono_war01]

According to a OLD sea yarn, Japanese in Chinese waters used to catch cuttles that were measured in feet, not cm. Although that sounds werid, for all we know, it COULD be true.

 

[monty]

According to a OLD sea yarn, Japanese in Chinese waters used to catch cuttles that were measured in feet, not cm. Although that sounds werid, for all we know, it COULD be true.

Isn't there a species off Australia that gets to around 3'? I saw a documentary on some sort of shockingly big cuttle a few years ago, but I don't remember the name. The diver/narrator claimed she was friendly and liked being touched, I think, and wasn't even agressive to divers when they were looking at her eggs...

 

[thom]

Isn't their a species off Australia that gets to around 3'? I saw a documentary on some sort of shockingly big cuttle a few years ago, but I don't remember the name. The diver/narrator claimed she was friendly and liked being touched, I think, and wasn't even agressive to divers when they were looking at her eggs...

Yep, thats Sepia apama, it frequently grows up to one meter. But we don't get those here. Just have officinalis and the Sepiola atlantica which is tiny.

 

[n82rboy]

thanks

Dank u for the article Thom..
-Paul

 

[erich orser]

How large a system would somebody (I'm thinking an institution like an aquarium - not a private owner unless they're Bill Gates) need in order to have sepia apama on display? In particular, if they have a small group of them as I've seen done with their smaller cousins.

 

[Tintenfisch]

Always wanted to try my hand at reading Dutch - and it went surprisingly well. Thanks for the cool article, Thom!

 

[chrono_war01]

Just back from Singapore.

I have to say...a real neat article...although..my mom insisted that squid = cuttles and that this cuttle article is complete nonsese since she thinks that squid = cuttles