Skip to content
WAnimals
  • Map
  • Species
  • Parks
  • Diving
Log inCreate account
WAnimals

The guide for travellers and animal lovers: discover, plan and share your wild adventures around the world.

Discover wildlife

  • Species
  • Ecosystems
  • Glossary
  • Tags

Explore places

  • Map
  • Countries
  • Parks
  • Diving

Plan experiences

  • Guides

Learn

  • Blog

Resources

  • About us
  • How we build our profiles
  • Help centre
  • Contact
  • Install the app

Follow us

Account

  • Log in
  • Create account

© 2026 WAnimals. All rights reserved.

Terms of servicePrivacyCookiesLegal notice
MapSpeciesParksDiving
  1. Home
  2. Species
  3. Species groups
  4. Cuttlefishes

Species group · Cephalopods

Cuttlefishes

WAnimals has 2 species of cuttlefish, in the family Sepiidae.

2 species
1 family
50 countries
38 parks
Weight
4 kg
Length
0.8 cm – 49 cm
Lifespan
2 years

Ranges calculated from the profiles that record the figure, not from all 2.

All 2 species of cuttlefishes on WAnimals

Each one has its own full profile. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.

Common CuttlefishNot Evaluated

Common Cuttlefish

Sepia officinalis

44 countries29 parks83 dive sites
Data Deficient

Flamboyant Cuttlefish

Metasepia pfefferi

6 countries9 parks19 dive sites

Conservation status

1 Not Evaluated1 Data Deficient

No species documented in this group is genuinely at risk according to the IUCN, with the data available today.

Where they live

Recorded in 50 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:

  • Albania1
  • Algeria1
  • Australia1
  • Belgium1
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina1
  • Bulgaria1
  • Cabo Verde1
  • Croatia1
  • Cyprus1
  • Denmark1
  • Egypt1
  • France1
  • Gambia1
  • Georgia1
  • Germany1
  • Gibraltar1
  • Greece1
  • Guinea1
  • Guinea-Bissau1
  • Iceland1
  • Indonesia1
  • Ireland1
  • Israel1
  • Italy1

Where to see them

  • Al Hoceima1 species
  • Albufera de Valencia1 species
  • Arcipelago Toscano1 species
  • Arrábida1 species
  • Asinara1 species
  • Bali Barat1 species
  • Banc d'Arguin1 species
  • Brijuni1 species
  • Bunaken1 species
  • Cabo de Gata-Níjar1 species
  • Cabrera Archipelago1 species
  • Calanques1 species
  • Aegadian Islands (Favignana)diving
  • Aeolian Islands (Panarea/Stromboli)diving
  • Aeolian Islands (Vulcano)diving
  • Alboran Islanddiving
  • Alor Archipelagodiving
  • Amalfi Coastdiving

Did you know…?

  • It can learn to recognise particular prey even before it hatches from the egg.

    From Common Cuttlefish

  • It is semelparous: it dies after its one breeding season.

    From Common Cuttlefish

  • It is one of the most commercially important cephalopods in European fisheries.

    From Common Cuttlefish

  • It can walk across the sea floor using two of its arms as legs rather than swimming, all the while flashing bright warning colours that signal how toxic it is.

    From Flamboyant Cuttlefish

  • It walks the bottom on its arms and flashes colour as a warning that it is toxic.

    From Flamboyant Cuttlefish

  • It walks rather than swims. Its cuttlebone is too small to give it lasting buoyancy, so it moves across the bottom on two arms and two lobes of its mantle.

    From Flamboyant Cuttlefish

Ecosystems

  • Ocean2

See every species group · Explore the species one by one

This page in other languages: Español · Deutsch · Français · Português · Italiano