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.

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