Cuttlefish are cephalopods, which means they are in the same class as octopus, squid and nautilus. Cephalopods are intelligent animals that have a ring of arms surrounding their head, a beak made of chitin, a shell (although only the nautilus has an exterior shell), a head and foot that are merged, and eyes that can form images.
Fast Facts about Cuttlefish
1. The cuttlefish has two long tentacles which is uses to quickly grasp its prey, which it then manipulates using its arms. Both the tentacles and arms have suckers.
2. The cuttlefish is a carnivorous animal that primarily preys on small crustaceans such as shrimp and crabs, but the cuttlefish also eats alot of fish.
3. Cuttlefish are colour blind.
4. Cuttlefishes propel themselves with their fins, and jets of water.
5. Cuttlefish have 8 arms and 2 long tentacles used for feeding.
6. Within their bodies, cuttlefish have a long, oval bone called a cuttlebone. This bone is used to regulate buoyancy using chambers that may be filled with gas and/or water depending on where the cuttlefish is in the water column
7. Cuttlefish can see light, polarized light which is invisible to humans.
8. Cuttlefish don’t just change colour, they can also change pattern and skin texture, sometimes they’ll even make there skin branch out to create a very threatening posture.
9. Cuttlefish generally aren’t afraid of people – sometimes they’re actually curious!
10. Cuttlefish are sexually mature at 14-18 months of age, and only live 1-2 years
