FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes Western

760 Cephalopods
Sepia mestus Gray, 1849
En - Reaper cuttlefish; Fr - Seiche moisson; Sp - Sepia segadora.
Maximum mantle length 140 mm. Arms all of similar length in both
sexes, with tetraserial suckers. Hectocotylus absent. Tentacular club
sucker-bearing face flattened; with 6 small suckers in transverse
rows, those in middle of third dorso-longitudinal row slightly enlarged;
swimming keel extending well beyond sucker-bearing face of club;
dorsal and ventral protective membranes fused at base of club,
joined to stalk at base of club, not separated from stalk by a membrane.
Cuttlebone oval, rounded anteriorly and posteriorly; dorsal median
rib indistinct; spine with ventral keel; sulcus shallow, narrow; anterior
striae inverted U-shape; inner cone limbs broaden posteriorly, not
thickened. A neritic demersal species, at depths to 146 m. Cuttlebones
have been found in eastern Australia. Whole animals have been
collected only from the Sydney region. Also reported from northern
China and Viet Nam though it is uncertain whether either of these
records refer to species conspecific with S. mestus from Australia.
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Sepia mira (Cotton, 1932)
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En - Little cuttlefish.
Cuttlebone length 55 mm. Cuttlebone outline
lanceolate, narrowed between middle and
posterior third, widened near posterior end;
dorsal surface white, evenly convex; median
and lateral ribs absent; spine present, straight,
without keels; striated zone and last loculus
convex; sulcus absent; striae slightly
convex-straight; inner cone limbs of uniform
width; thickened posteriorly forming a rounded,
shiny ridge; outer cone narrow anteriorly, wider
posteriorly. Until recently, known only from
cuttlebones found in Queensland, at Lizard
Island and North-West Islet, as well as Trial
Bay (New South Wales). On the basis of
specimens trawled betwen 20 and 72 m off
northern New South Wales, Sepia mira has
now been fully described (see Reid, in press).
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dorsal view lateral view
cuttlebone
(after Cotton, 1952)
10 mm
ventral view
cuttlebone
ventral view
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