Flamboyant Cuttlefish

The Metasepia Pfefferi, widely known as Pfeffer’s Flamboyant Cuttlefish, is a member of the Sepiidae family of cuttlefishes that can be found in the shallow waters from Indonesia, to the north shore of Australia to Papua New Guinea, to a few islands in the Philippines, South Queensland to Western Australia – ‘walking’ on the surface of the sea floor or low energy coral rubble bottoms.

This cephalopod stays on the shallow waters, around 3 to 25 meters but have been found up to 86 meters deep, and slowly ‘walks’ on the sea bed, using their arms and/or flaps on their body, and this type of movement has been called ambling.  They are active during the day, hunting for food such as crustaceans and small fishes. Flamboyant Cuttlefish camouflage to get near its prey without being noticed. These camouflage abilities are also used to ward of any predator that comes near.

They reproduce facing each other, the male sperm sent to the female’s mantle, they the female fertilizes her egg, and lay them under places that are safe from predator fishes. One the eggs are hatched, the juvenile cuttlefish is capable of camouflage abilities on par with the adult ones.

The Flamboyant Cuttlefish have beautiful coloration, making them in demand for fish trade, until later on that they discovered that the coloration that serve as a warning to predators are not just bluffs. The bright coloration and distinctive posture shows that they are toxic, as their muscle tissues contain a very unique toxin, but their bites are not poisonous. This venom makes them one of the three known member of the toxic cephalopods. They are no danger to humans as long as you don’t eat them.

Flamboyant Cuttlefish are commonly seen on the sandy slopes around the car wreck and next to Dauin Poplacion.