Cephalopods
Flamboyant Cuttlefish
Metasepia pfefferi · Cephalopod mollusk — family Sepiidae; a dwarf cuttlefish with a reduced internal cuttlebone
A flamboyant cuttlefish crossing a black-sand flat looks like a wind-up toy in ceremonial dress — a fist-sized animal ambling on two arm tips and skin flaps because its reduced internal cuttlebone barely floats it, pulsing waves of maroon, yellow, and white down its body as it goes. The pageant reads as warning coloration: laboratory work has reported significant toxins in its muscle, a rarity among cuttlefish, and the animal behaves like something with nothing to prove, hunting tiny shrimp and fish in open daylight with a deliberate tongue-flick strike of its feeding tentacles. At rest it fades to mud brown and simply disappears against the silt. Females glue eggs under coconut shells and rubble, and hatchlings emerge as perfect miniatures already flashing the family colors. It is a muck signature — ask the guides which slope has been producing.
Dónde y cuándo ver uno
"Residente" significa que la mayoría de las inmersiones en ese destino tienen encuentros con ellos; "estacional" significa que su presencia es fiable en los meses indicados; cualquier otra cosa es un extra, no algo con lo que contar.
| Destino | Fiabilidad | Meses | Notas |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lembeh StraitIndonesia | Occasional | Todo el año | |
| AnilaoPhilippines | Occasional | Todo el año | |
| Banda Sea & AmbonIndonesia | Occasional | Todo el año | |
| Dumaguete, Dauin & Apo IslandPhilippines | Occasional | Todo el año | |
| Milne BayPapua New Guinea | Occasional | Todo el año |
El mejor mes, de un vistazo
Comprendiéndolos
Hábitat: Open sand, silt, and mud flats of sheltered bays and muck slopes, usually walking rather than swimming.
Rango: Indo-Malayan region and northern Australia — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and New Guinea.
Comportamiento: Ambles across the bottom on two arm tips and skin flaps, pulsing waves of maroon, yellow, and white when hunting or alarmed; fades to mud brown at rest and vanishes.
Dieta: Small shrimp and fishes taken with a slow-motion stalk and a lightning strike of the feeding tentacles.
Tamaño: normalmente alrededor de 0.06 m; documentado hasta 0.08 m (mantle length).
Cómo comportarse cerca de uno
Stay low and behind its line of travel, keep strobes reasonable, and never lift shells or coconut halves — females glue eggs beneath exactly that kind of cover.
Conservación
Formally Data Deficient; a bottom-bound lifestyle on developable coastal seabeds is its main exposure.
Puntos conocidos por avistamientos
Ver
Desde los canales oficiales
Best Places to Dive with Whale Sharks
Outrageously Tiny Fish
Sink or Swim? with Monét X Change | Monterey Bay Aquarium
Los vídeos son enlaces incrustados a los canales propios de sus creadores — no alojamos nada y acreditamos todo.