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.
在哪里、什么时候能见到
"常驻"表示在该目的地潜水时大多数情况下都能遇见它们；"季节性"表示在所列月份内可靠出现；其他任何情况都是意外惊喜，而非计划中的保障。
| 目的地 | 可靠性 | 月份 | 备注 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lembeh StraitIndonesia | Occasional | 全年皆宜 | |
| AnilaoPhilippines | Occasional | 全年皆宜 | |
| Banda Sea & AmbonIndonesia | Occasional | 全年皆宜 | |
| Dumaguete, Dauin & Apo IslandPhilippines | Occasional | 全年皆宜 | |
| Milne BayPapua New Guinea | Occasional | 全年皆宜 |
最佳月份一览
深入了解
栖息地: Open sand, silt, and mud flats of sheltered bays and muck slopes, usually walking rather than swimming.
分布范围: Indo-Malayan region and northern Australia: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and New Guinea.
习性: 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.
食性: Small shrimp and fishes taken with a slow-motion stalk and a lightning strike of the feeding tentacles.
体型: 通常约 0.06 m; 记录深度可达 0.08 m (mantle length).
与它相处时的行为守则
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.
保育
Formally Data Deficient; a bottom-bound lifestyle on developable coastal seabeds is its main exposure.
以此著称的已标注潜点
高亮显示的潜点由编辑团队为该物种标注；数字为1990年以来潜点约5公里范围内的GBIF出现记录数。
观看
来自官方渠道
Wildlife of Monterey | New film in our auditorium
Live Aviary Cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium
Live Aviary Cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium
视频均为创作者自有频道的嵌入链接。我们不托管任何内容，所有来源均注明出处。