Common Cuttlefish

Name: Common Cuttlefish

Scientific name: Sepia officinalis

Category: Marine

Nature Stars: 60

What are nature stars?

About:

Cuttlefish are relatives of squid and octopuses. They are predators, living out in water up to 200metres deep but coming into shallow, weedy waters to breed. When they die, the large chalky internal shell, known as 'cuttle bones' often wash up on the beach.

Go to the cuttlefish's Feature Creature page to read more fantastic facts!

How to identify: Cuttle bones are white and chalky, oval shaped with thin harder 'wings' at one end. Cuttlefish are thick-set squid that grow up to 30cm long, often with brownish tiger stripes.

Where: Found around the coasts of England and Wales.

Natural Superpowers

• Predator: 70
• Agility: 60
• Rarity: 60
• Cute factor: 40
• Traveller: 60

Fantastic fact: Cuttlefish can change colour to merge into the background, or to flash different colours and pattersn to distract predators or attract mates.

Photograph credit: Paul Naylor