Giant Australian cuttlefish

오스트레일리아 대형 갑오징어

The giant Australian cuttlefish is the largest cuttlefish, growing over 50 cm long in the cool seas of southern Australia. It changes skin colour in a flash to hide or signal, and each winter tens of thousands gather to mate.

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At a glance

Class: Molluscs
Diet: Meat eater (carnivore)
Lifespan: up to about 2 years
Habitat: coral reefs, coasts

Quick answers

Where does the Giant Australian cuttlefish live?

It lives in coral reefs, coasts of the Indian and Pacific oceans.

What does the Giant Australian cuttlefish eat?

Its diet: meat eater (carnivore).

How long does the Giant Australian cuttlefish live?

It can live up to about 2 years.

The giant Australian cuttlefish is the largest cuttlefish in the world. Its mantle, the main body, can reach 50 centimetres, and the whole animal can be up to 100 centimetres long including the tentacles. It can weigh more than 10.5 kilograms. It lives in the cool and temperate waters of Australia, from Brisbane to Shark Bay and around Tasmania, on rocky reefs, seagrass beds and sandy or muddy bottoms down to 100 metres.

Like other cuttlefish, it has eight arms, two feeding tentacles, blue blood and three hearts. Its skin has special cells called chromatophores that let it change colour and pattern in a split second, to blend in with rocks or sand or to send signals. The Upper Spencer Gulf population in South Australia has become a tourist attraction.

How does it change colour?

Three layers of cells under the skin work together. Chromatophores, red to yellow, are the outer layer. Below them are iridophores, which shine in rainbow colours, and leucophores, white cells in the bottom layer. The nervous system controls the cells, so the cuttlefish can switch its look in a fraction of a second. Giant cuttlefish are active, hungry predators that feed mostly on crustaceans and fish.

Meeting near Whyalla

Every winter, many cuttlefish gather in the Upper Spencer Gulf near Whyalla to breed, flashing quick colour displays. Genetic studies suggest this population hardly interbreeds with others and may in fact be a separate species. Adults live about two years at most. The scientific name was changed in 2023 to Ascarosepion apama, though many sources still use the older name Sepia apama.

Fun facts

Each winter thousands gather to breed near Whyalla in South Australia, flashing rapid colour displays.
It has three hearts and blue blood.
Males are bigger than females.
Cuttlefish live only about two years.