Cuttlefish

Family Sepiidae

REMARKS A more or less oval creature, maximum mantle length just over 35 cm, with eight short and two long tentacles. Colour variable, often with zebra-like markings on the back. Secretes an ink, which was formerly used to make the colour sepia. Contains a large internal shell or ‘bone’ familiar as a pecking object for pet birds. This species is fairly common off the south coast of England, for example in the Plymouth area.