Biodiversity & Conservation

Common cuttlefish - Sepia officinalis

Sepia officinalis

Image David Nicholson - Two individuals hovering over the sea bed. Image width ca XX cm.
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Distribution map

Sepia officinalis recorded (dark blue bullet) and expected (light blue bullet) distribution in Britain and Ireland (see below)

Why do the maps differ?

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Sepia officinalis is not listed under any importance categories.

Taxonomy icon Taxonomy Taxon English term
Phylum Mollusca Snails, slugs, mussels, cockles, clams & squid
Class Cephalopoda Cuttlefish, nautilus, octopus & squid
Authority Linnaeus, 1758
Recent synonyms None
Map icon Recorded Distribution in Britain and Ireland Found mainly on southern and western coasts of Britain.
Habitat information icon Habitat information Found on sandy and muddy substrata, shallow sublittoral and offshore to 200 m, but typically to 100 m depth.
Text page icon Description Body relatively broad and somewhat flattened so as to be oval in cross section. Paired fins run from behind the head to the tip of the body, but do not join. Arms are short and possess 4 rows of suckers while tentacular clubs possess 5-6 suckers in transverse rows. Dorsal margin of mantle with blunt lobe. Individuals are capable of very rapid colour change, especially when threatened; the animal may also take the colour or patterning of its background. Mantle reaching lengths up to 45 cm and weight up to 4 kg.
Identifying features
  • Body elongate and flattened, broadly oval in cross section
  • Lateral fins extending length of body but not joined posteriorly
  • Dorsal mantle edge with blunt lobe
  • Arms short- less than length of head, with 4 rows of suckers
  • Tentacular club with 5 or 6 suckers in each transverse row, the median ones moderately enlarged.
  • Swimming siphon not extending past base of club tentacles.
  • Cuttlebone anteriorly and posteriorly rounded, with parallel sides.
  • Colour - very variable; may be black- brown, striped or mottled on dorsal surface, paler to white on ventral surface.
Additional information icon Additional information
  • Males larger than females, and slightly more frequent (Dunn, 1999).
  • Sepia elegans is smaller, has 2 rows of suckers on arms and has an acute lobe on its dorsal mantle margin.

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This review can be cited as follows:

Emily Wilson & Jaret Bilewitch 2009. Sepia officinalis. Common cuttlefish. Marine Life Information Network: Biology and Sensitivity Key Information Sub-programme [on-line]. Plymouth: Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. [cited 09/02/2010]. Available from: <http://www.marlin.ac.uk/speciesinformation.php?speciesID=4333>