FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes Western

Sepiidae 755
Sepia whitleyana (Iredale, 1926)
Frequent synonyms / misidentifications: Acanthosepion
whitleyanum Iredale, 1926 / Sepia smithi Hoyle, 1885.
FAO names: En - Whitleys cuttlefish.
Diagnostic characters: Arms in both sexes with tetraserial
suckers. Hectocotylus present, both male ventral arms (IV)
modified: left ventral arm with 7 or 8 rows of normal suckers
proximally; 5 or 6 rows reduced suckers medially, then
remainder normal to arm tip; right ventral arm with 4 or 5 rows of
minute suckers distally, remaining suckers normal; reduction
marked, left arm IV with 2 dorsal and 2 ventral series widely
spaced; suckers equal size across series; oral surface wide,
fleshy, with transversely grooved ridges and shallow median furrow.
Tentacular club sucker-bearing face flattened; with 20
similar-sized, minute suckers in transverse rows; swimming
keel does not extend beyond sucker-bearing faced of the club;
dorsal and ventral protective membranes not fused at base of club,
joined to stalk at base of club, not separated from stalk by a
membrane and terminating at posterior end of sucker-bearing face.
Cuttlebone outline oblong; texture uniformly pustulose; median rib
faint; lateral ribs indistinct; spine without keel; striated zone deeply
concave; last loculus slightly convex; sulcus deep, wide; anterior
striae inverted U-shape; inner cone limbs broadening posteriorly,
thickened forming a rounded ridge; outer cone narrow anteriorly,
wider posteriorly. Colour: pale pinkish purple.
Size: Cuttlebone length of holotype 168 mm (excluding spine).
Habitat, biology, and fisheries: At depths of 23 to 160 m. Taken
as bycatch of prawn and mixed-species trawl fisheries.
Distribution: Eastern Australia
from the Gulf of Carpentaria to
New South Wales.
Remarks: Often confused with
Sepia smithi, but differs in
having both ventral arms
modified in males (only the left
ventral arm hectocotylized in S.
smithi). The swimming keel
extends beyond the suckerbearing
face of the club in S.
smithi, but is equal to the club
length in S. whitleyana. The
distinct inner cone limbs do not
form a ledge posteriorly in S.
whitleyana but form a narrow
rim.
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ventral view
cuttlebone