Is the cuttlefish a mollusk?
Cuttlefish
Cuttlefish or cuttles are marine molluscs of the order Sepiida. They belong to the class Cephalopoda, which also includes squid, octopuses, and nautiluses. Cuttlefish have a unique internal shell, the cuttlebone.
Sexual mimicry
While, as seen before, most organisms which portray sexual mimicry are born with this morphology/behaviour, this is not always the case. The giant cuttlefish, "Sepia apama", mentioned above in the section “sneaky copulations”, is born with the capacity to choose whether to change its morphology to look like a female or a mature male. When no competition is seen nearby, the cuttlefish will look like a mature male and mate with the female. However, when a mature male and a female are copulating, the giant cuttlefish will resemble a female and stay at a close distance of the couple, hoping for a chance to mate with the female if the mature male leaves to fight other males. Another example of an organism that has the capability to remain small and look like a female, or become a morphologically mature male, is the dark-edged splitfin, "Girardinichthys multiradiatus". The purpose for their female mimicry was seen before, in the “sexual mimicry against aggression” section where the female-looking males will escape aggression from dominant males and avoid females fleeing their company due to persisting courting males.
Cuttlefish
For cephalopods in general, the hues of the pigment granules are relatively constant within a species, but can vary slightly between species. For example, the common cuttlefish and the opalescent inshore squid ("Loligo opalescens") have yellow, red, and brown, the European common squid ("Alloteuthis subulata") has yellow and red, and the common octopus has yellow, orange, red, brown, and black.
Mollusc shell
Nautiluses are the only extant cephalopods which have an external shell. (For information on a very large extinct subclass of shelled cephalopods, please see Ammonites.) Cuttlefish, squid, spirula, vampire squid, and cirrate octopuses have small internal shells. Females of the octopus genus "Argonauta" secrete a specialised paper-thin eggcase in which they partially reside, and this is popularly regarded as a "shell", although it is not attached to the body of the animal.
Sea cucumber
Holothuroidea are generally scavengers, feeding on debris in the benthic zone of the ocean. Exceptions include some pelagic cucumbers and the species "Rynkatorpa pawsoni", which has a commensal relationship with deep-sea anglerfish. The diet of most cucumbers consists of plankton and decaying organic matter found in the sea. Some sea cucumbers position themselves in currents and catch food that flows by with their open tentacles. They also sift through the bottom sediments using their tentacles. Other species can dig into bottom silt or sand until they are completely buried. They then extrude their feeding tentacles, ready to withdraw at any hint of danger.
Curveulima dautzenbergi
Curveulima dautzenbergi is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Eulimidae. The species is one of multiple known species to exist within the genus, "Curveulima". The species was named in honor of Belgian malacologist, Philippe Dautzenberg (1849-1935).
Cuttlefish
The earliest sepia-like fossils of cuttlefish are from the Cretaceous period. Whether the earlier "Trachyteuthis" is assigned to this class, or to the Octopodiformes, remains unclear.
Atolla jellyfish
Atolla wyvillei, also known as the Atolla jellyfish or Coronate medusa, is a species of deep-sea crown jellyfish (Scyphozoa: Coronatae). It lives in oceans around the world. Like many species of mid-water animals, it is deep red in color. This species was named in honor of Sir Charles Wyville Thomson, chief scientist on the Challenger expedition.
Squid
The cladogram, not fully resolved, is based on Sanchez et al, 2018. Their molecular phylogeny used mitochondrial and nuclear DNA marker sequences; they comment that a robust phylogeny "has proven very challenging to obtain". If it is accepted that Sepiidae cuttlefish are a kind of squid, then the squids, excluding the vampire squid, form a clade as illustrated. Orders are shown in boldface; all the families not included in those orders are in the paraphyletic order "Oegopsida".
Melon butterflyfish
Melon, Black-tailed and Oval butterflyfishes and probably also the somewhat aberrant Arabian Butterflyfish ("C. melapterus") make up the subgenus "Corallochaetodon", of which "C. trifasciatus" is the type species. They are probably quite close to the subgenus called ""Citharoedus"" (that name is a junior homonym of a mollusc genus), which contains for example the Scrawled Butterflyfish ("C. meyeri"). Like that group, they might be separated in "Megaprotodon" if the genus "Chaetodon" is split up.
Cuthonella elioti
Cuthonella elioti is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Cuthonellidae. It is a replacement name for "Cuthonella antarctica" Eliot, 1907 (non "Aeolis antarctica" Pfeffer in Martens & Pfeffer, 1886).
Cuttlefish
Cuttlebone is given to parakeets and other cagebirds as a source of dietary calcium.
Sepia hierredda
"Sepia hierredda" is very similar to the common cuttlefish but there are a number of consistent morphological differences which can be used to identify "S. hieredda" from "S. officinalis", the two species being sympatric off northwestern Africa. The colour pattern shown by "S. hierredda" is very similar to that of "S. officinalis". The morphological features that distinguishing this species from the common cuttlefish are that in "S.hierraedda" the number of transverse rows of suckers is higher, for specimens of similar mantle lengths, the striated zone on the cuttlebone of common cuttlefish from the northeastern Atlantic is shorter than the same feature in "S. hierredda", however, in common cuttlefish from the Canary Islands this character is not useful because the striated zone is the same length as it is in this species, the mantle of "S. hierredda" is narrower and the arms are shorter. Genetic differences are consistent and sampling revealed no signs of hybridisation in specimens samples off Senegal where the two species are sympatric. As its vernacular name suggests the giant African cuttlefish is a very large species which can grow to a mantle length of up to 500mm and a weight which can reach 7.5kg.
Sepia cultrata
Sepia cultrata, commonly known as the knifebone cuttlefish or elongated cuttlefish, is a species of cuttlefish from the family Sepiidae endemic to the southern Indo-Pacific. It is a deepwater species found in subtropical and temperate Australian waters.
Ocean sunfish
Many of the sunfish's various names allude to its flattened shape. Its specific name, "mola", is Latin for "millstone", which the fish resembles because of its gray color, rough texture, and rounded body. Its common English name, sunfish, refers to the animal's habit of sunbathing at the surface of the water. The Dutch-, Portuguese-, French-, Catalan-, Spanish-, Italian-, Russian-, Greek- and German-language names, respectively "maanvis", "peixe lua", "poisson lune", "peix lluna", "pez luna", "pesce luna", "рыба-луна", "φεγγαρόψαρο" and "Mondfisch", mean "moon fish", in reference to its rounded shape. In German, the fish is also known as "Schwimmender Kopf", or "swimming head". In Polish, it is named "samogłów", meaning "head alone", because it has no true tail. In Swedish, Danish and Norwegian it is known as "klumpfisk", in Dutch "klompvis", in Finnish "möhkäkala", all of which meaning "lump fish". The Chinese translation of its academic name is "fān chē yú" 翻車魚, meaning "toppled wheel fish".
The ocean sunfish has various superseded binomial synonyms, and was originally classified in the pufferfish genus, as "Tetraodon mola".
It is now placed in its own genus, "Mola", with three species: "Mola mola", "Mola trecta" (hoodwinker sunfish) and "Mola ramsayi". The ocean sunfish, "Mola mola", is the type species of the genus.
Common cuttlefish
The common cuttlefish is one of the largest species of cuttlefish with their mantles (does not include their head and arms) reaching upwards of 45 cm. The mantle houses the reproductive and digestive tracts of the cuttlefish and is also home to an internal shell called the cuttlebone. The common cuttlefish has two highly developed eyes, eight arms which are located around the mouth and are used to hold and move prey, two tentacles which are used to quickly capture prey, and a radula which is used to tear and rip apart any prey they have captured. Cuttlefish are well known for their unmatched camouflaging abilities which are possible due to light scattering leucophores, pigmented chromatophore organs, and structurally reflecting iridophores all located in their skin. These specialized characteristics give them the ability to not only change their colour, but also change the texture appearance of their skin and all of this is done despite them being colour-blind. Their camouflaging abilities are categorized into four main types including mottle, stipple, uniform, and disruptive. These complex camouflage abilities are not just present in adult cuttlefish, but cuttlefish juveniles also contain these complicated characteristics which allows them to be able to camouflage from a young age.
Sepia pulchra
Sepia pulchra is a species of cuttlefish native to the southeastern Atlantic Ocean, specifically off the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. It lives at depths of between 15 and 50 m.
Seashell
Some cephalopods such as "Sepia", the cuttlefish, have a large internal shell, the cuttlefish bone, and this often washes up on beaches in parts of the world where cuttlefish are common.
Cuttlebone
The largest cuttlebone belongs to "Sepia apama", the giant Australian cuttlefish, which lives between the surface and a maximum depth of 100 metres.
Cephalopod ink
Cephalopod ink has, as its name suggests, been used in the past as ink for pens and quills; the Greek name for cuttlefish, and the taxonomic name of a cuttlefish genus, "Sepia", is associated with the brown colour of cuttlefish ink (for more information, see sepia).
Colubraria nitidula
Colubraria nitidula, common name the shiny dwarf triton, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Colubrariidae.
Common cuttlefish
Cuttlefish only have a lifespan of 1–2 years (captive and wild) and have many predators including sharks, dolphins, seals, fish, and cephalopods which includes other cuttlefish. They have many defensive mechanisms to help protect them from predators including a siphon which they can use to shoot water out of to propel them away from danger, ink which can distract and disorient a predator as the cuttlefish escapes, and their camouflage abilities which can help them avoid predators altogether.
Meteuthria futilis
Meteuthria futilis is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Buccinidae, the true whelks.
Sepia (genus)
Sepia is a genus of cuttlefish in the family Sepiidae encompassing some of the best known and most common species. The cuttlebone is relatively ellipsoid in shape. The name of the genus is the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek σηπία, "sēpía", cuttlefish.The species listed above with an asterisk (*) are questionable and need further study to determine if they are a valid species or a synonym. The question mark (?) indicates questionable placement within the genus.
Metasepia
Metasepia is a small genus of small cuttlefish from the Pacific Ocean. The two members of this genus are characterised by a small, thick, diamond-shaped cuttlebone.
Catfish
Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia, the wels catfish of Eurasia and the piraíba of South America, to detritivores (species that eat dead material on the bottom), and even to a tiny parasitic species commonly called the candiru, "Vandellia cirrhosa". There are armour-plated types and there are also naked types, neither having scales. Despite their name, not all catfish have prominent barbels. Members of the Siluriformes order are defined by features of the skull and swimbladder. Catfish are of considerable commercial importance; many of the larger species are farmed or fished for food. Many of the smaller species, particularly the genus "Corydoras", are important in the aquarium hobby. Many catfish are nocturnal, but others (many Auchenipteridae) are crepuscular or diurnal (most Loricariidae or Callichthyidae, for example).
Cuthonella elenae
Cuthonella elenae is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Cuthonellidae.
Cuttlefish
In at least one species, female cuttlefish react to their own reflection in a mirror and to other females by displaying a body pattern called "splotch". However, they do not use this display in response to males, inanimate objects, or prey. This indicates they are able to discriminate same-sex conspecifics, even when human observers are unable to discern the sex of a cuttlefish in the absence of sexual dimorphism.
Idiosepiidae
Idiosepiidae is a family of mollusk in the class Cephalopoda. This family appears to be related to the cuttlefish in the order Sepiida and the bobtail squid in the order Sepiolida but the exact placement of this family within the Decapodiformes is "incertae sedis".
Killifish
Killifish feed primarily on aquatic arthropods such as insect (mosquito) larvae, aquatic crustaceans and worms. It is reported by the killifish collector Rudolf Koubek that areas in Gabon where the streams lack killifish (due to pollution or other causes) are rife with malaria, which is spread by a mosquito. Some species of "Orestias" from Lake Titicaca are planktonic filter feeders. Others, such as "Cynolebias" and "Megalebias" species and "Nothobranchius ocellatus" are predatory and feed mainly on other fish. The American Flagfish ("Jordanella floridae") feeds heavily on algae and other plant matter as well as aquatic invertebrates. "Nothobranchius furzeri" needs much food because it grows quickly, so when food supplied is inadequate, bigger fish will eat the smaller fish.
Cuttlefish
Like other marine mollusks, cuttlefish have ink stores that are used for chemical deterrence, phagomimicry, sensory distraction, and evasion when attacked. The composition of the ink leads to a richly colored "black" ink which is rich in ammonium salts and amino acids that may have a role in phagomimicry defenses.
Cuttlefish
The chromatophores are sacs containing hundreds of thousands of pigment granules and a large membrane that is folded when retracted. Hundreds of muscles radiate from the chromatophore. These are under neural control and when they expand, they reveal the hue of the pigment contained in the sac. Cuttlefish have three types of chromatophore: yellow/orange (the uppermost layer), red, and brown/black (the deepest layer). The cuttlefish can control the contraction and relaxation of the muscles around individual chromatophores, thereby opening or closing the elastic sacs and allowing different levels of pigment to be exposed. Furthermore, the chromatophores contain luminescent protein nanostructures in which tethered pigment granules modify light through absorbance, reflection, and fluorescence between 650 and 720 nm.
Uttleya williamsi
Uttleya williamsi is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk, in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.
Cuttlefish
The use of this color is wide-ranged. A common use is in cooking with squid ink to darken and flavor rice and pasta. It is purported to add a sweet flavor to the food, and leaves the food stained a dark black color. In addition to food, cuttlefish ink can be used with plastics and staining of materials. The diverse composition of cuttlefish ink, and its deep complexity of colors, allows for dilution and modification of its color. Cuttlefish ink can be used to make noniridescent reds, blues, and greens,
Jellyfish
The name jellyfish, in use since 1796, has traditionally been applied to medusae and all similar animals including the comb jellies (ctenophores, another phylum). The term "jellies" or "sea jellies" is more recent, having been introduced by public aquaria in an effort to avoid use of the word "fish" with its connotations of an animal with a backbone, though shellfish, cuttlefish and starfish are not vertebrates either. In scientific literature, "jelly" and "jellyfish" have been used interchangeably. Many sources refer to only scyphozoans as "true jellyfish".
List of edible molluscs
This is a partial list of edible molluscs. Molluscs are a large phylum of invertebrate animals, many of which have shells. Edible molluscs are harvested from saltwater, freshwater, and the land, and include numerous members of the classes Gastropoda (snails), Bivalvia (clams, scallops, oysters etc.), Cephalopoda (octopus and squid), and Polyplacophora (chitons).
Sepia elegans
Mature males and females are recorded all year in the Mediterranean Sea and this suggests that in this sea spawning is continuous with a resultant continuous recruitment of adult cuttlefish, with distinct peaks in some areas. The smallest sexually mature males recorded have been 20mm in mantle length and mature females at 30mm, off West Africa maturity is reached at around 1 year of age. In the Aegean Sea however the minimum mantle length for mature males and females was 41mm and 42mm respectively. The females lay eggs in clusters of 12-25 eggs which are attached to sea fans, shells and other hard objects in areas with a muddy substrate. The newly hatched juveniles have a benthic habit and, in the Sicilian Channel estimated grow rates measured by the increase in mantle length was recorded as roughly 2.8mm a month for males and 3.0mm for females. Females are usually heavier than males of similar mantle length and they have longer tentacular clubs and a greater weight of stomach contents. In the Atlantic off west Africa they also spawn throughout the year in shallow inshore waters, but there are peaks of spawning in the summer and autumn. Males bear 95 spermatophores while the females hold approximately 250 eggs. These cuttlefish spawn when the water temperature reaches 13° to 18 °C. In Portuguese waters there are mature cuttlefish found throughout the years although numbers reduce during the summer. In the eastern Mediterranean "S. elegans" adult individuals were smaller than those in the western part of the sea where lower productivity and higher temperatures cause the cuttlefish less metabolic cost. "S. elegans" lives for between 12 and 18 months.
Orange cuttlefish
A cuttlefish or squid can be used interchangeably, though they both share the same Chinese food name (鹵水墨魚). It is also shortened most of the time to just (墨魚).
Tzitzit
Pro-cuttlefish
Jellyfish
Most jellyfish are marine animals, although a few hydromedusae inhabit freshwater. The best known freshwater example is the cosmopolitan hydrozoan jellyfish, "Craspedacusta sowerbii". It is less than an inch (2.5 cm) in diameter, colorless and does not sting. Some jellyfish populations have become restricted to coastal saltwater lakes, such as Jellyfish Lake in Palau. Jellyfish Lake is a marine lake where millions of golden jellyfish ("Mastigias" spp.) migrate horizontally across the lake daily.
Common cuttlefish
"Sepia officinalis" is a species that is commonly fished in the Mediterranean, including countries like Greece and Spain. Although it is fished extensively and wild stocks in some regions are close to being over-exploited, population numbers are not declining so the species is of Least Concern on the list of threatened species. Cuttlefish have many uses which makes them a popular catch. Their cuttlebones are commonly sold in the pet bird industry because they provide a good source of calcium, help keep a bird’s beak trimmed, improve jaw strength, and provide entertainment for the bird. "Sepia officinalis" is also growing in popularity as a foodstuff because it has a similar taste to octopus and squid and is a good source of healthy proteins and lipids. Cephalopod ink is believed to have many beneficial health effects including anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant activity, antimicrobial and potential anticancer properties, and anti-hypertensive and anti-retroviral activity. Other uses for cephalopod ink include writing, drawing, and painting uses along with potential cosmetic uses. Similar to cuttlefish meat, the ink is also commonly used in the food industry for both its flavour and as a food dye.
Sepia zanzibarica
Sepia zanzibarica, or the Zanzibar cuttlefish, is a species of cuttlefish native to the Indian Ocean.
Cnidoglanis macrocephalus
Cnidoglanis macrocephalus is a species of catfish (order Siluriformes) of the family Plotosidae, and is the only species of the genus Cnidoglanis. It is commonly known as the cobbler, estuary cobbler, deteira, estuary catfish, South Australian catfish, or Swan River catfish.
Jellyfish
Jellyfish are found all over the world, from surface waters to the deep sea. Scyphozoans (the "true jellyfish") are exclusively marine, but some hydrozoans with a similar appearance live in freshwater. Large, often colorful, jellyfish are common in coastal zones worldwide. The medusae of most species are fast growing, mature within a few months and die soon after breeding, but the polyp stage, attached to the seabed, may be much more long-lived. Jellyfish have been in existence for at least 500 million years, and possibly 700 million years or more, making them the oldest multi-organ animal group.
Pharaoh cuttlefish
It is a commonly fished species of cuttlefish in the Philippines, as well as the most economically important cuttlefish in the northern Indian Ocean. It is often eaten by humans in these areas. Typically, cuttlefish is consumed as dried, shredded cuttlefish, a popular snack food. And, in the Qing Dynasty manual of Chinese gastronomy, the Suiyuan shidan, the roe of the cuttlefish is considered a difficult to prepare but sought-after delicacy. This species is also being harvested by fishermen as a commercial species in the Suez Canal, Egypt.
Shuttles hoppfish
The shuttles hoppfish or shuttles mudskipper ("Periophthalmus modestus") is a species of mudskippers native to fresh, marine and brackish waters of the northwestern Pacific Ocean from Vietnam to Korea and Japan. This species occurs in muddy estuaries, tidal flats and swamps and marshes and is capable of remaining out of the water for up to 60 hours so long as it is kept moist. This species can reach a length of TL. This species can also be found in the aquarium trade and is also used in traditional Chinese medicine.
Curveulima bollonsi
Curveulima bollonsi is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Eulimidae. The species is one of multiple known species to exist within the genus, "Curveulima".
Platax
A few species have been assigned to the genus that have since been reclassified into other genera. The butterflyfish, "C. ocellatus" mentioned above is one of these species. Another species that has been mistakenly classified as a "Platax" is the common freshwater angelfish, "Pterophyllum scalare". In a joint effort with Valenciennes, Cuvier published a natural history work in 1831 where the freshwater angelfish was classified as "Platax scalaris". The freshwater angelfish, of course is not as closely related to the marine batfish as to warrant classification in the same genus. A more scientifically acceptable mis-classification would be that of the species "Zabidius novemaculeatus". This species was first described as "Platax novemaculeatus" by Mcculloch when it was discovered from Australia in the early 1900s. The species is now classified in the genus "Zabidius", which is still in the same family as the genus "Platax".
Conus litoglyphus
Conus litoglyphus, common name the lithograph cone, is a species of predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk, more popularly known as a cone snail, cone shell or cone.
Jellyfish
The subphylum Medusozoa includes all cnidarians with a medusa stage in their life cycle. The basic cycle is egg, planula larva, polyp, medusa, with the medusa being the sexual stage. The polyp stage is sometimes secondarily lost. The subphylum include the major taxa, Scyphozoa (large jellyfish), Cubozoa (box jellyfish) and Hydrozoa (small jellyfish), and excludes Anthozoa (corals and sea anemones). This suggests that the medusa form evolved after the polyps. Medusozoans have tetramerous symmetry, with parts in fours or multiples of four.
Butterfly kingfish
The butterfly kingfish ("Gasterochisma melampus") is an ocean-dwelling ray-finned bony fish in the mackerel family, Scombridae – a family which it shares with the tunas, mackerels, Spanish mackerels, and bonitos. Unlike the 50 species from those four tribes, however, this species is unique in that it is the only scombrid to be classified apart from the rest, into the subfamily Gasterochismatinae and genus "Gasterochisma".
Cuttlebone
Cuttlebone, also known as cuttlefish bone, is a hard, brittle internal structure (an internal shell) found in all members of the family Sepiidae, commonly known as cuttlefish, a family within the cephalopods.
Sepiella
Sepiella is a genus of cuttlefish encompassing around seven species.
Demersal zone
Cuttlefish are able to adjust their buoyancy using their cuttlebones, lightweight rigid structures with cavities filled with gas, which have a specific gravity of about 0.6. This enables them to swim at varying depths. Another invertebrate that feeds on the seabed and has swimming abilities is the nautilus, which stores gas in its chambers and adjusts its buoyancy by use of osmosis, pumping water in and out.
Holothuria atra
Holothuria atra, commonly known as the black sea cucumber or lollyfish, is a species of marine invertebrate in the family Holothuriidae. It was placed in the subgenus "Halodeima" by Pearson in 1914, making its full scientific name "Holothuria (Halodeima) atra". It is the type species of the subgenus.
Mollusc eye
The molluscs have the widest variety of eye morphologies of any phylum, and a large degree of variation in their function. Cephalopods such as octopus, squid, and cuttlefish have eyes as complex as those of vertebrates, while scallops have up to 100 simple eyes.
Sepia elegans
"Sepia elegans" is sometimes caught as bycatch high numbers in parts of its geographic range. In the Mediterranean Sea it can be an important species in local markets and it is fished for intensively in the Sicilian Channel whilein the south-western Adriatic it as bycatch in a multi-species trawl fishery together with "Sepia orbignyana". The catch of these cuttlefish was reduced between 1984 and 1999 and almost none were caught in a day's fishing in 2003, the decline being attributed to overfishing. This species, mixed with "S. orbignyana" and smaller sized "S. officinalis" in both fresh and frozen forms.
The primary threat for all cuttlefish species is ocean acidification, which directly affects the density of the developing cuttlebone. The higher concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is found to increase the density of a cuttlebone which then negatively affects the buoyancy of the cuttlefish. It is also common for the cuttlefish to be caught as bycatch, often in significant numbers. A specific threat to Sepia elegans, is overfishing, especially in the Sicilian Channel where they are often used as a food source and their cuttlebones used for metal casting.
Oval butterflyfish
Together with the Black-tailed and Melon butterflyfishes and probably also the somewhat aberrant Arabian Butterflyfish ("C. melapterus") it makes up the subgenus "Corallochaetodon". They are probably quite close to the subgenus called ""Citharoedus"" (that name is a junior homonym of a mollusc genus), which contains for example the Scrawled Butterflyfish ("C. meyeri"). Like that group, they might be separated in "Megaprotodon" if the genus "Chaetodon" is split up.
Mollusca
Some analyses of helcionellids concluded these were the earliest gastropods. However, other scientists are not convinced these Early Cambrian fossils show clear signs of the torsion that identifies modern gastropods twists the internal organs so the anus lies above the head.
"Volborthella", some fossils of which predate , was long thought to be a cephalopod, but discoveries of more detailed fossils showed its shell was not secreted, but built from grains of the mineral silicon dioxide (silica), and it was not divided into a series of compartments by septa as those of fossil shelled cephalopods and the living "Nautilus" are. "Volborthella"s classification is uncertain. The Late Cambrian fossil "Plectronoceras" is now thought to be the earliest clearly cephalopod fossil, as its shell had septa and a siphuncle, a strand of tissue that "Nautilus" uses to remove water from compartments it has vacated as it grows, and which is also visible in fossil ammonite shells. However, "Plectronoceras" and other early cephalopods crept along the seafloor instead of swimming, as their shells contained a "ballast" of stony deposits on what is thought to be the underside, and had stripes and blotches on what is thought to be the upper surface. All cephalopods with external shells except the nautiloids became extinct by the end of the Cretaceous period . However, the shell-less Coleoidea (squid, octopus, cuttlefish) are abundant today.
Antillophos boucheti
Antillophos boucheti is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Buccinidae, the true whelks.
Sepia elegans
Sepia elegans, the elegant cuttlefish, is a species of cuttlefish in the family Sepiidae from the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It is an important species for fisheries in some parts of the Mediterranean where its population may have suffered from overfishing.
Cuttlefish
On occasion, a large competitor arrives to threaten the male cuttlefish. In these instances, the male first attempts to intimidate the other male. If the competitor does not flee, the male eventually attacks it to force it away. The cuttlefish that can paralyze the other first, by forcing near its mouth, wins the fight and the female. Since typically four or five (and sometimes as many as 10) males are available for every female, this behavior is inevitable.
Cuttlefish
Research into replicating biological color-changing has led to engineering artificial chromatophores out of small devices known as dielectric elastomer actuators. Engineers at the University of Bristol have engineered soft materials that mimic the color-changing skin of animals like cuttlefish, paving the way for "smart clothing" and camouflage applications.
Though cuttlefish are rarely kept as pets, due in part to their fairly short lifetimes, the most common to be kept are "Sepia officinalis" or "Sepia bandensis".
Dichotomyctere ocellatus
Pufferfish are classed as molluscivores and feed mainly on benthic organisms which may include mussels, cockles, oysters and krill, though some puffers will take other foods, such as flake, it is not recommended that their primary food is flake. Their teeth, a beak formed from two plates, are capable of crushing shells in order to feed on prey. In captivity many fishkeepers feed snails as a substitute for the aforementioned foods as snails help keep the beak trim; it would otherwise be susceptible to overgrowth.
Ornate butterflyfish
It is a close relative of the Mailed Butterflyfish ("C. reticulatus") and the Scrawled Butterflyfish ("C. meyeri"). Together they make up the subgenus called ""Citharoedus"", but as this name had already been used for a mollusc genus when it was given to the fish, it is not valid. They are probably quite close to the subgenus "Corallochaetodon" which contains for example the Melon Butterflyfish ("C. trifasciatus"). Like these, they might be separated in "Megaprotodon" if the genus "Chaetodon" is split up.
Cutthroat eel
Cutthroat eels range from in length. They are bottom-dwelling fish, found in deep waters down to about . They are distinguished by the presence of telescopic eyes in the larvae. In some classifications (for example, ITIS), this family is split, with "Simenchelys" in its own family, the Simenchelyidae.
Kimberella
So far "Kimberella" fossils show no sign of a radula, the toothed chitinous "tongue" that is the diagnostic feature of modern molluscs, excluding bivalves. Since radulae are very rarely preserved in fossil molluscs, its absence does not necessarily mean that "K. quadrata" did not have one. The rocks in the immediate vicinity of "Kimberella" fossils bear scratch marks that have been compared to those made by the radulae of molluscs as they graze on microbial mats. These traces, named "Radulichnus" and "Kimberichnus", have been interpreted as circumstantial evidence for the presence of a radula. In conjunction with the univalve shell, this has been taken to indicate "Kimberella" was a mollusc or very closely related to molluscs. In 2001 and 2007 Fedonkin suggested that the feeding mechanism might be a retractable proboscis with hook-like organs at its end. "Kimberella"′s feeding apparatus appears to differ significantly from the typical mollusc radula, and this demonstrates that "Kimberella" is at best a stem-group mollusc. Notably, the scratch marks indicate that the 'teeth' were dragged towards the organism, not pushed away as in molluscs, and that the maximum impact on the sediment was when the mouthpart was furthest from the organism. The direction of grazing is also backwards, as opposed to forwards as in molluscs. Furthermore, the constant width of grooves implies stereoglossy – a trait that is very derived in molluscs. It has been argued that the shape of the feeding traces is incompatible with a radula, and that despite the molluscan body form, the lack of a radula places "Kimberella" well outside the molluscan crown group. Butterfield points out that plenty of other groups of organisms bear structures capable of making similar marks.
USS Cuttlefish (SS-171)
USS "Cuttlefish" (SC-5/SS-171), a and one of the "V-boats," was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the cuttlefish. Her keel was laid down by Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 21 November 1933 sponsored by Mrs. B. S. Bullard, and commissioned on 8 June 1934, Lieutenant Commander Charles W. "Gin" Styer in command. "Cuttlefish" was the first submarine built entirely at Electric Boat's facility in Groton, Connecticut; construction of previous Electric Boat designs had been subcontracted to other shipyards, notably Fore River Shipbuilding of Quincy, Massachusetts. Four Peruvian R-class submarines had previously been finished in Groton, using material from cancelled S-boats salvaged from Fore River.
Mola (fish)
A sunfish (or mola) is any fish in the Mola genus (family Molidae). The fishes develop their truncated, bullet-like shape because the back fin, with which they are born, never grows. Instead, it folds into itself as the creature matures, creating a rounded rudder called a clavus. "Mola" in Latin means "millstone" and describes the ocean sunfish's somewhat circular shape. They are a silvery color and have a rough skin texture.
Cephalopod
Nautiluses are the only extant cephalopods with a true external shell. However, all molluscan shells are formed from the ectoderm (outer layer of the embryo); in cuttlefish ("Sepia" spp.), for example, an invagination of the ectoderm forms during the embryonic period, resulting in a shell (cuttlebone) that is internal in the adult. The same is true of the chitinous gladius of squid and octopuses. Cirrate octopods have arch-shaped cartilaginous fin supports, which are sometimes referred to as a "shell vestige" or "gladius". The Incirrina have either a pair of rod-shaped stylets or no vestige of an internal shell, and some squid also lack a gladius. The shelled coleoids do not form a clade or even a paraphyletic group. The "Spirula" shell begins as an organic structure, and is then very rapidly mineralized. Shells that are "lost" may be lost by resorption of the calcium carbonate component.
Mollusc shell
The ancestral mollusc is thought to have had a shell, but this has subsequently been lost or reduced on some families, such as the squid, octopus, and some smaller groups such as the caudofoveata and solenogastres, and the highly derived "Xenoturbella". Today, over 100,000 living species bear a shell; there is some dispute as to whether these shell-bearing molluscs form a monophyletic group (conchifera) or whether shell-less molluscs are interleaved into their family tree.
Mytilus coruscus
Mytilus coruscus, common name the Korean mussel or the hard-shelled mussel, is a species of mussel, a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Mytilidae. This species is heavily exploited as a food item via mariculture in Korea and in China.
Common cuttlefish
During the day, most cuttlefish can be found buried below the substrate and fairly inactive. At night however, they are actively searching for prey and can ambush their prey from under the substrate. Cuttlefish are carnivorous and eat a variety or organisms including crustaceans (crabs and shrimp), small fish, molluscs (clams and snails), and sometimes other cuttlefish which is more commonly seen when the abundance of other prey is low.
Pharaoh cuttlefish
The pharaoh cuttlefish is native to at least the western Indian Ocean, including the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Of all the cuttlefish species in the Persian Gulf, it is the most commonly caught. When hunting at night, it swims up to shallower parts of the sea to feast on a variety of smaller fish, crabs, and occasionally other cuttlefish. It is thought to have reached the Mediterranean Sea as a Lessepsian migrant via the Suez Canal after many of its cuttlebones were washed up on beaches in Israel in the early 2000s.
Cuttlefish
The suckers of cuttlefish extend most of the length of their arms and along the distal portion of their tentacles. Like other cephalopods, cuttlefish have "taste-by-touch" sensitivity in their suckers, allowing them to discriminate among objects and water currents that they contact.
Mottled sculpin
Mottled sculpins, "Cottus bairdi", are a common fish throughout most of North America. The only area that mottled sculpin are provided limited protection is in New Mexico. Mottled sculpins feed on a wide variety of organisms, including mollusks, snails, other mottled sculpins, and trout. Their diets are mainly made up of bottom-dwelling benthic insects. The favored habitat of a mottled sculpin is one rich in macroinvertebrate prey, which usually occurs in fast riffle areas with clear substrates and moderate velocities between 0.20 m/s to 0.38 m/s. Spawning season for the mottled sculpin starts in April or May with the males taking up residency in benthic rocks. Breeding season lasts for two to three months. Clutch size can vary anywhere from 8 eggs to 148 eggs for females. Males can have up to 1587 eggs in their nest. Sexual maturity is thought to be reached at two years of age. Climate change does not seem to be a threat to this species since they inhabit a wide range of temperature gradient throughout the United States. However, one human activity that affects them is runoff from mining, which particularly is harmful to the newly hatched larvae and developing eggs. Nothing is being done for current management for the mottled sculpin because it is a very abundant fish where it occurs. Future management could focus on the different metals that leak into the water from mining. The absence of the mottled sculpin from an area could tell us that the area has high levels of zinc, cadmium, or copper.
Cuttlefish
Cuttlefish eat small molluscs, crabs, shrimp, fish, octopus, worms, and other cuttlefish. Their predators include dolphins, sharks, fish, seals, seabirds, and other cuttlefish. The average life expectancy of a cuttlefish is about 1–2 years. Recent studies indicate cuttlefish are among the most intelligent invertebrates. Cuttlefish also have one of the largest brain-to-body size ratios of all invertebrates.
Ammonoidea
Ammonoids are an extinct group of marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs, commonly referred to as ammonites, are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish) than they are to shelled nautiloids such as the living "Nautilus" species. The earliest ammonites appear during the Devonian, and the last species died out in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.
Gelatinous zooplankton
Gelatinous zooplankton are fragile animals that live in the water column in the ocean. They have very delicate bodies that are easily damaged or destroyed. Gelatinous zooplankton are often transparent. All jellyfish are gelatinous zooplankton, but not all gelatinous zooplankton are jellyfish. The most commonly encountered organisms include ctenophores, medusae, salps, and Chaetognatha in coastal waters. However, almost all marine phyla, including Annelida, Mollusca and Arthropoda, contain gelatinous species, but many of those odd species live in the open ocean and the deep sea and are less available to the casual ocean observer. Gelatinous zooplankton have also been called "Gelata".
Cuttlefish
The family Sepiidae, which contains all cuttlefish, inhabits tropical and temperate ocean waters. They are mostly shallow-water animals, although they are known to go to depths of about . They have an unusual biogeographic pattern: they are present along the coasts of East and South Asia, Western Europe, and the Mediterranean, as well as all coasts of Africa and Australia, but are totally absent from the Americas. By the time the family evolved, ostensibly in the Old World, the North Atlantic possibly had become too cold and deep for these warm-water species to cross.
The common cuttlefish ("Sepia officinalis"), is found in the Mediterranean, North, and Baltic Seas, although populations may occur as far south as South Africa. They are found in sublittoral depths, between the low tide line and the edge of the continental shelf, to about 180 m (100 fathoms)." The cuttlefish is listed under the Red List category of "least concern" by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This means that while some over-exploitation of the marine animal has occurred in some regions due to large-scale commercial fishing, their wide geographic range prevents them from being too threatened. Ocean acidification, however, caused largely by higher levels of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere, is cited as a potential threat.
Eubranchus cucullus
Eubranchus cucullus is a species of sea slug or nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Eubranchidae.
Shellfish
The term "shellfish" is used both broadly and specifically. In common parlance, as in having "shellfish" for dinner, it can refer to anything from clams and oysters to lobster and shrimp. For regulatory purposes it is often narrowly defined as "filter-feeding molluscs" such as clams, mussels, and oyster to the exclusion of crustaceans and all else.
Retifusus latiplicatus
Retifusus latiplicatus is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Buccinidae, the true whelks.
Cuttlefish
Cuttlefish are quite popular in Europe. For example, in northeast Italy, they are used in "risotto al nero di seppia" (risotto with cuttlefish ink), also found in Croatia and Montenegro as "crni rižot" (black risotto). Catalan cuisine, especially that of the coastal regions, uses cuttlefish and squid ink in a variety of "tapas" and dishes such as "arròs negre". Breaded and deep-fried cuttlefish is a popular dish in Andalusia. In Portugal, cuttlefish is present in many popular dishes. "Chocos com tinta" (cuttlefish in black ink), for example, is grilled cuttlefish in a sauce of its own ink. Cuttlefish is also popular in the region of Setúbal, where it is served as deep-fried strips or in a variant of "feijoada", with white beans. Black pasta is often made using cuttlefish ink.
Sepia mestus
Sepia mestus, also known as the reaper cuttlefish or red cuttlefish, is a species of cuttlefish native to the southwestern Pacific Ocean, specifically Escape Reef off Queensland () to Murrays Beach off Jervis Bay (). Reports of this species from China and Vietnam are now known to be misidentifications. "S. mestus" lives at a depth of between 0 and 22 m.
Cuttlefish
Cuttlefish possess an internal structure called the cuttlebone, which is porous and is made of aragonite. The pores provide it with buoyancy, which the cuttlefish regulates by changing the gas-to-liquid ratio in the chambered cuttlebone via the ventral siphuncle. Each species' cuttlebone has a distinct shape, size, and pattern of ridges or texture. The cuttlebone is unique to cuttlefish, and is one of the features that distinguish them from their squid relatives.
Common cuttlefish
The common cuttlefish is native to at least the Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, and Baltic Sea, although subspecies have been proposed as far south as South Africa. It lives on sand and mud seabeds and can tolerate brackish water conditions.
Antillophos lucubratonis
Antillophos lucubratonis is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Buccinidae, the true whelks.
Retifusus iturupus
Retifusus iturupus is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Buccinidae, the true whelks.
Cuttlefish
The "cuttle" in cuttlefish comes from the Old English name for the species, "cudele", which may be cognate with the Old Norse "koddi" (cushion) and the Middle Low German "Kudel" (rag). The Greco-Roman world valued the cuttlefish as a source of the unique brown pigment the creature releases from its siphon when it is alarmed. The word for it in both Greek and Latin, "sepia", now refers to the reddish-brown color sepia in English.
Marine pollution
Ballast water taken up at sea and released in port is a major source of unwanted exotic marine life. The invasive freshwater zebra mussels, native to the Black, Caspian, and Azov seas, were probably transported to the Great Lakes via ballast water from a transoceanic vessel. Meinesz believes that one of the worst cases of a single invasive species causing harm to an ecosystem can be attributed to a seemingly harmless jellyfish. "Mnemiopsis leidyi", a species of comb jellyfish that spread so it now inhabits estuaries in many parts of the world. It was first introduced in 1982, and thought to have been transported to the Black Sea in a ship's ballast water. The population of the jellyfish grew exponentially and, by 1988, it was wreaking havoc upon the local fishing industry. "The anchovy catch fell from 204,000 tons in 1984 to 200 tons in 1993; sprat from 24,600 tons in 1984 to 12,000 tons in 1993; horse mackerel from 4,000 tons in 1984 to zero in 1993." Now that the jellyfish have exhausted the zooplankton, including fish larvae, their numbers have fallen dramatically, yet they continue to maintain a stranglehold on the ecosystem.
List of metaphor-based metaheuristics
The cuttlefish optimization algorithm is a population-based search algorithm inspired by skin color changing behaviour of Cuttlefish which was developed in 2013 It has two global search and two local search.
Seashell
Not all mollusks are marine. There are numerous land and freshwater mollusks, see for example snail and freshwater bivalves. In addition, not all mollusks have an external shell: some mollusks such as some cephalopods (squid and octopuses) have an internal shell, and many mollusks have no shell, see for example slug and nudibranch.
Mollusca
There is an even sharper debate about whether "Wiwaxia", from about , was a mollusc, and much of this centers on whether its feeding apparatus was a type of radula or more similar to that of some polychaete worms. Nicholas Butterfield, who opposes the idea that "Wiwaxia" was a mollusc, has written that earlier microfossils from are fragments of a genuinely mollusc-like radula. This appears to contradict the concept that the ancestral molluscan radula was mineralized.
However, the Helcionellids, which first appear over in Early Cambrian rocks from Siberia and China, are thought to be early molluscs with rather snail-like shells. Shelled molluscs therefore predate the earliest trilobites. Although most helcionellid fossils are only a few millimeters long, specimens a few centimeters long have also been found, most with more limpet-like shapes. The tiny specimens have been suggested to be juveniles and the larger ones adults.
Mollusca
Molluscs have more varied forms than any other animal phylum. They include snails, slugs and other gastropods; clams and other bivalves; squids and other cephalopods; and other lesser-known but similarly distinctive subgroups. The majority of species still live in the oceans, from the seashores to the abyssal zone, but some form a significant part of the freshwater fauna and the terrestrial ecosystems. Molluscs are extremely diverse in tropical and temperate regions, but can be found at all latitudes. About 80% of all known mollusc species are gastropods. Cephalopoda such as squid, cuttlefish, and octopuses are among the neurologically most advanced of all invertebrates. The giant squid, which until recently had not been observed alive in its adult form, is one of the largest invertebrates, but a recently caught specimen of the colossal squid, long and weighing , may have overtaken it.
Cuthonella ferruginea
Cuthonella ferruginea is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Cuthonellidae.
Conasprella culebrana
Conasprella culebrana is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Conidae, the cone snails and their allies.
Common cuttlefish
Cuttlefish reach sexual maturity between 14 and 18 months of age. During breeding season, which occurs during spring and summer in shallow waters, male cuttlefish will display a black and white zebra pattern on their mantle to attract females and females will display a uniform grey colour to indicate they are ready to mate. Cuttlefish are internal fertilizers and the number of fertilized eggs can range from 100 to 1000. After the eggs are fertilized, they will remain in the oviduct of the female for anywhere between 30 and 90 days before they are laid. The eggs attach to seaweed, shells, or other substrates to prevent them from drifting away and have ink deposits on them to aid in camouflage.
Sepia prashadi
Sepia prashadi, common name hooded cuttlefish, is a widely distributed species of cuttlefish. It has a thin, oval body and grows from 5 to 11 cm. The tips of the tentacles have a distinct club shape. "S. prashadi" is a migratory, demersal cuttlefish living in shallow waters at depths of approximately 40 to 50 metres. It is found in many locations including the east coast of Africa, around India, in the Red Sea, and Persian Gulf.
Sepia apama
"S. apama" is a neritic demersal species. They are carnivorous, opportunistic and voracious predators who feed predominantly on crustaceans and fish. Using neurally controlled cells known as chromatophore organs (red to yellow), iridophores (iridescent: spans the entire visible spectrum from blue to near-IR) and leucophores (white), the cuttlefish can put on spectacular displays, changing colour and patterns in a fraction of a second. Located in three layers under the skin, leucophores make up the bottom layer, with chromatophores the outermost. By selective blocking, the three layers work together to produce polarised patterns. Unlike those in most animals, cuttlefish iridophores are physiologically active; they can change their reflectivity, and the degree of polarisation can also be controlled. Cuttlefish are colourblind; however, the photoreceptors of cuttlefish eyes are arranged in a way which gives them the ability to see the linear polarisation of light. While the mantis shrimp is the only known creature to have true polarisation vision, cephalopods may also. Because the optic lobes of cuttlefish are larger than any other region of the brain and their skin produces polarised reflective patterns, they may communicate through this visual system. By raising elaborate papillae on their skin, "S. apama" squid can change the shape and the texture of their skin to imitate rock, sand, or seaweed.
Sepia braggi
Sepia braggi, the slender cuttlefish, is a species of cuttlefish native to the Australian waters. It is found in coastal waters on the Continental Shelf at depths between 30 and 86 m.