- Who
- giant cuttlefish Sepia apama
- What
- 1 metre(s)
- Where
- Australia ()
- When
The world's largest species of cuttlefish is the giant cuttlefish Sepia apama, which grows up to 50 cm in mantle length and up to 1 m in total length (i.e., including outstretched tentacles), and can weigh more than 10.5 kg. Its favoured habitat includes rocky coral reefs, seagrass beds, and sand and mud seafloor, and it occurs along the southeastern coast of Australia, from as far north as Moreton Bay, Queensland, to as far west as Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia. It lives at depths as deep as 100 m.
Despite their name, cuttlefishes are molluscs, not fishes. Specifically, they are cephalopod molluscs, and are therefore most closely allied to squids and octopuses. Like squids, they possess 10 limbs (technically, eight arms and two tentacles), which are actually extensions of their foot, and like various octopuses and squids their skin contains special cells called chromatophores that enable them to change colour and skin pattern rapidly and dramatically for a variety of different behavioural reasons.
