Saturday, 6 June 2009

Cuttlefish - Species of the Reef


This is one of the coolest fish on the reef or one of my favourites anyway. He just hangs out relaxed taking everything in his stride. They can often be seen hanging on the back edges of the reef and the juveniles often hang out by our mooring lines. The cuttlefish is related the squid, octopus and nautilus. The cuttle fish can also change colour (as the photo below demonstrates) and uses ink to defend itself.
The bone inside the cuttlefish is used for birds in the home and is often washed up on the beach or seen drifting on the ocean.
A couple of interesting facts about the cuttlefish are that they have amongst the best eyesight in the world although they do not differentiate colour the same as we do. The other fact is they have three hearts and green-blue blood instead of the usual red. Maybe this is why they act so cool, they have similar characteristics to the Vulcans from Star Trek.

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