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Family Sepiidae - cuttlefishes
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Order |
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Class |
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Cephalopoda |
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Environment |
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Fresh : No |
Brackish : No |
Marine : Yes |
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Remark |
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Author: Keferstein, 1866
Climate: Tropical to temperate.
Distribution:
Short description: Size ranges from small to medium. Robust head is slightly narrower than mantle. Prominent eyes. Ten appendages (8 arms and 2 tentacles) surround the mouth. Arms have 2 to 4 suckers in transverse rows. Tentacular clubs have 4 or more suckers. Arms and suckers have chitinous rings. Some species have hectocotylized ventral arms for sperm transfer. Robust and dorsoventrally flattened mantle, may be broad or slender with oval, oblong or nearly circular outline. Narrow fins are not connected to each other. Posterior fin lobes are free. Calcareous, lanceolate to oval or diamond-shaped cuttlebone is located dorsally in the mantle underneath the skin; dorsal side is a calcareous plate while ventral side is finely laminate and porous comprising of thin, transverse septa supported by transverse calcareous rods. A pair of gills with no branchial canal between afferent and efferent branchial blood vessels.
Biology/Ecology: Found at continental shelf and upper slope to a maximum depth of 1,000 m. Prefers rocky, sandy and muddy substrates in seagrass, seaweeds and coral reef areas. Feeds on invertebrates and bony fishes. Mantle length up to 50 cm and weight up to 12,000 g. Has a lifespan of 18 to 24 months. |
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