Sepia cultrata | |
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Scientific classification
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Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Cephalopoda |
Order: | Sepiida |
Family: | Sepiidae |
Genus: | Sepia |
Subgenus: | Rhombosepion |
Species: | S. cultrata
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Binomial name | |
Sepia cultrata
Hoyle, 1885
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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. [2]
Sepia cultrata has a pale buff pinkish brown colour. It has a crescent-shaped club with a flattened sucker bearing 5 or 6 small suckers in transverse rows. The cuttlebone is an elongate oval shape with triangular pointed anterior and narrow posterior ends. It has a salmon-coloured dorsal surface with ribbing: the median rib is distinct and narrow, flanked by two faint lateral ribs. Its mantle grows to a maximum size of 12 cm. [2]
Its Australian distribution includes waters of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia. [2]
The knifebone cuttlefish typically inhabits waters between 300 and 500 m deep. The species' known depth range extends from 132 to 803 m. [2]
The type specimen was collected in Twofold Bay, New South Wales and was described by William Evans Hoyle in 1885. [3]