Hedley’s Cuttlefish

Scientific name: Sepia hedleyi
Similar species:
Sepia vossi
  • Author(s)
    Allison Runck
  • Updated
    29/09/21
  • Read time
    2 minutes

Fast Facts

  • Classification
    Genus
    Sepia
    Species
    hedleyi
    Family
    Sepiidae
    Super Family
    Sepioidea
    Suborder
    Sepiina
    Order
    Sepiida
    Superorder
    Decapodiformes
    Subclass
    Coleoidea
    Class
    Cephalopoda
    Phylum
    Mollusca
    Kingdom
    Animalia
  • Size Range
    Males up to 83 mm in mantle length, females up to 108 mm in mantle length

Identification

Sepia hedleyi is a buff pinkish brown colour without any markings on the arms. It has dorsal ridges that are orange to pink in colour. It possesses a crescent-shaped club with a flattened sucker-bearing surface, consisting of 9 to 12 suckers in transverse rows.

Habitat

Sepia hedleyi is a deep water species with a known depth range from 47 to 1092 metres.

Distribution

Hedley’s Cuttlefish is endemic to Australia and found from the Great Barrier Reef southwards around to Western Australia to south-west of Shark Bay, including Tasmania.

Distribution data sourced from the Atlas of Living Australia

Economic impacts

This species is often taken as bycatch in prawn and mixed species trawl fisheries.

References

  • Jereb, P., & C.F.E Roper (eds) (2005) Cephalopods of the World: Chambered Nautiluses and Sepioids, Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Catalogue for Fishery Purposes, Rome, No. 4, Vol. 1