What species of Cuttlefish have white eggs????

[Paradox]

I got a call today from my local fish store stating they got 2 white cuttlefish eggs. I went down asap to pick it up hoping that it may be a flamboyant egg. Unfortunately I was unable to get both, since they promised one to another costumer.

So far its a little larger then a Bandensis egg. I can see the embryo and a large yolk, so it will still have some time until hatching.

Does anyone know what other species may have white eggs?

Pictures soon.

 

[gjbarord]

Sepia pharaonis have white eggs and can get pretty big.

Greg

 

[DWhatley]

Well, Paradox, you wanted another big guy ... now where to put another big tank

 

[Paradox]

Im still hoping it may be a flamboyant.. I guess we will see in a couple weeks.

You can see in this picture that the yolk is still rather large. The bottom heart shaped bulb is the yolk and the nub on top is the embryo.

 

[Thales]

S. latimanus also have white eggs.

 

[DWhatley]

This site gave a decent description (as well as where they are found - just about anywhere except here) of the S. latimanus that might help identify it later. It also mentioned this about the eggs, " The eggs harden after they are layed, which makes them difficult for predators to extract from the coral."

 

[cephaloholic]

http://www.starfish.ch/c-invertebrates/cephalopods.html


this sight shows pictures of metasepia eggs

thought that might be some help

 

[Paradox]

Ok, after a couple weeks of development, Im pretty sure it is S. latimanus! The egg size is more then 2x the size of Bandensis eggs, the baby with plenty of yolk left is 3-4x times the size of bandensis hatchlings and its still not hatched yet! I will take care of this one until it outgrows my available space, which shouldnt be long. Rich will probably then take him to throw in a 150 gallon system and when it outgrows that, we will need to hope the academy of science will take him!

Here is a size comparison. The bandensis on the right is 1 weeks old which is already 2x the size of freshly hatched bandensis!

Here you can see the cuttle on its side with the remaining yolk still attached.

Here is an egg size comparison between the Latimanus and Bandensis

 

[Paradox]

So for a week and a half I was able to watch this guy inside his egg. He appeared fully developed and I could not see a yolk. I started to become concerned that he was unable to escape from the egg, which is much tougher then bandensis eggs. He was already responding to its environment and even following shrimps around. One day I saw him hovering in the egg in a manner that resembles how a baby bandensis would look if it was starving to death. So I decided to break the egg and release the baby. So far, a week later he seems healthy and has been eating live mysids.

I put a short video together. Im still not positive on the ID for this guy, but the egg had a diameter of 1.25 - 1.5 inches and the cuttle itself was about 1/2". The egg was surprisingly strong requiring a decent pinch and tear to open.

Here is a link to the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIcvfpUFlrU

 

[DWhatley]

Is he a different white from the bandensis? He seems to be a brighter white but that could be the video (I noted the brissle looked purple). The arms seem different too (I know the egg was not bandensis but I have not seen any other babies in person or in pictures). Be sure to post more often now that he is out so we know how he is doing (and growing).

On one of the science posts (maybe one from octobot) there was a study that showed cuttles (I don't remember what species they used) could learn to identify food and would have a preference for what they saw while in the egg. I wonder if keeping shrimp in a hatching tank would help to get the bandensis eating faster (or do their eggs stay opaque until they hatch?)

See Tony, I am not the only one who can't remember which link works