Range: Tropical and temperate ocean waters worldwide Habitat: Seafloor Size: 1-35 inches (2.5-90cm) long Diet: Crabs, molluscs, sea slugs, fish, and cuttlefish Threats: Sea lions, bottlenose dolphins, and large fish like sharks Life span: Several months to several years

Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re talking about cuttlefish. Cuddle up with our channel by subscribing. Max West made today’s adorable request. This is a cuttlefish. I feel like this goes without saying, but, they aren’t fish. Cuttlefish are cephalopods like squids and octopuses, which helps to explain why they look so similar, but you can usually tell them apart by checking their arms and their eyes.

Squids, octopuses, and cuttlefish all have eight arms, but squids and cuttlefish also come equipped with two tentacles. Like squid, cuttlefish are able to retract their tentacles into their mantle and usually only bring them out to catch a meal, so this isn’t always dependable. Technically cuttlefish also possess a cuttlebone, which isn’t a bone at all but a rigid structure made of calcium carbonate, but that would require cutting the cuttlefish open to find it, and that’s no fun.

To tell a squid from a cuttlefish, one need only look into their eyes. Cuttlefish have some funky shaped pupils. This shape helps control the amount of light entering a cuttlefish’s eyes and helps them to differentiate contrasting tones within their environment which is pretty dang important because cuttlefish are colorblind. Yeah, some of the most colorful animals on the planet can’t even appreciate the crazy colors they can produce- at least, not the same way we do. This doesn’t seem to deter these invertebrates in anyway, however, because they’re fantastic hunters of crabs, molluscs, sea slugs, fish, and even each other if need be! They also put on fantastic displays to draw in lovers, though really it’s a dance of death.

Depending on the species, of which there are more than 100 when it comes to cuttlefish, they may live to be anywhere from a few months to a few years old. If you live in the Americas and have ever wondered why you’ve never seen a local cuttlefish, it’s because there aren’t any cuttlefish on the American coasts, though they can be found in tropical to temperate marine waters just about everywhere else in the world. It’s guessed that when cuttlefish were first making their appearance elsewhere in the world, any suitable “bridge” to American shores was already gone; thus, cuttlefish never made it to the Americas. Cuttlefish are benthic creatures meaning they live on the seafloor, but they’re also buoyant thanks to their cuttlebone, so instead of living literally on the seafloor like a flounder, they float just above the bottom.

Cuttlefish are born from eggs. A mother cuttlefish will deposit her fertilized eggs in nooks and crannies either separately or in small clusters with the number of eggs laid largely depending on the species. It takes an average of two months for the eggs to hatch. They hatch ready to take on the world and spend the next few months to few years developing. Once the young cuttlefish reach maturity, they’ll mate - some temperate water species will even migrate miles to find a better, warmer breeding spot. During the mating season, they’re main focus is on producing offspring, so by the end of the season, they’ll perish.

Apart from making so much love they literally die, cuttlefish can also be taken by marine mammals like sea lions and bottlenose dolphins as well as large fish like sharks. Cuttlefish will use their excellent camouflage to hide from these predators and if even that fails they can shoot out ink as a distraction tactic. Those of you who love the sepia filter on photographs actually have cuttlefish to thank for that because their ink is brown in color and is the origin for that tone!

For more facts on cuttlefish, check out the links in the description. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files.