Common Cuttlefish

• It can learn to recognise particular prey even before it hatches from the egg.
• It is semelparous: it dies after its one breeding season.
• It is one of the most commercially important cephalopods in European fisheries.
• comportamientoIt can send hypnotic bands of colour travelling across its skin to disorient prey or court a mate, a display known as the passing cloud.
• inteligenciaIt can pass versions of the Stanford marshmallow test of self-control, holding out for a better food reward.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - internal calcareous shell (cuttlebone), no external skeleton

Habitat & environment

Sand and mud bottoms of the Mediterranean, the North Sea and the eastern Atlantic, from the shore down to 200 m

Birth weight

An egg 8-10 mm across; a hatchling 7-8 mm long overall

Size at birth

7 - 8 mm long overall at hatching

Sexual maturity

14-18 months

Gestation / incubation

30-90 days of egg development (depending on water temperature)

Litter / clutch size

150 to 4,000 eggs per female, depending on her size

Sources consulted: SeaLifeBase; MarineBio; Animalia.bio; Animal Diversity Web; MarLIN; PMC (age estimation study); Academia.edu (cuttlebone aging study)

Best time: From March to June, during the breeding season, when it moves into shallow weedy bottoms to lay its eggs in clusters.