This is a really cute little species you can find around UK shores. I haven’t got any pictures just my above drawing so I’m going to keep this blog post short and write another one about the awesomeness of cuttlefish in general when I get to take pictures of some (fingers crossed its on the bucket list!)

These cuttlefish are ever so tiny, and grow no bigger than a few cm! I have only been lucky enough to see them when beach seining on West Angle Beach, Pembroke and in Porthdinllaen, North Wales.

Not much is known about this species but despite this there are a few reasons why it’s still worth writing a post about them!

Firstly, they are beautiful! Seriously gorgeous little creatures! The above painting isn’t just an over exaggeration of the colours, they really can be that colourful! Plus when it comes to British species colourfulness can be rare. Little cuttlefish also have the awesome ability to change colour, I haven’t seen this personally but there so small I’m not sure I ever would! However, it is worth checking out some YouTube videos of cuttlefish in general chaining colour though, its seriously mind-blowing!

They are highly intelligent (all cuttlefish are in general and I wouldn’t insult them in a few years they could be close to ruling the seas). They are deemed to have this high intelligence  because have much larger brain:body ratio compared to other invertebrates. They also undergo complex social rituals when it comes to situations such as mating. I personally wouldn’t want to take them on in a chess match!

These little guys are also very gutsy and I don’t think cuttlefish are scared of anything! Even though this species can be smaller than a 2p coin, it doesn’t stop them flaring their tentacles at you and trying to scare you off! Cuttlefish also release clouds of ink (Pseudomorphs) to try to confuse the predators that are hunting them. Pseudomorphs are mixtures of ink and mucus and create a shape in front of them, whilst they dash away! Although this is an amazing predatory defence mechanism, you can’t help but laugh when a cuttlefish tries to do this to a human!

Cuttlefish are also excellent hunters, and they feed by grabbing prey with their tentacles and crushing it with their beak. This is a really powerful jaw in the centre of the tentacles, and they can do this movement super fast! From reading around this species not much is known about them, but its assumed they are omnivorous feeders. This means they are pretty generalist and will eat anything they can get their tentacles on.

Because it is really difficult to see cuttlefish (as they are highly camouflaged and lived in the murky waters of Wales), I feel very lucky to have seen them out sampling. It is therefore unlikely, though not impossible, that you will find them in rock pools. But despite not being a species you would see very often, knowing what they are and a little bit about them is hopefully interesting anyway!

Happy rock pooling, and don’t forget to follow me on twitter for sneaking previews of my drawings (the cuttlefish drawing has been up for days, bet you wished you’d followed me sooner now!).