What is a cuttlefish?

Question

What is a cuttlefish?

Answer 1

http://www.tonmo.com/articles/basiccuttl...

Answer 2

The cuttlefish isn't a fish at all - it is a cephalopod. Octopuses, squids and cuttlefish  belong to class Cephalopoda, which means 'head foot'. Cephalopods are a class in the phylum Mollusca which also contains bivalves (scallops, oysters, clams) and gastropods (snails, slugs, nudibranchs). However unlike their relatives, cephalopods move much faster, actively hunt their food, and seem to be quite intelligent. They are awesome creatures!

A cuttlefish has 8 arms, with two rows of suckers along each arm, and two feeding tentacles with at least two rows of suckers along each. The tentacles and tentecular club act much the same as a chameleon's tongue; they shoot out to snare prey and bring it back to be eaten by a beak-like mouth and a wire brush like tongue. Cephalopods have three hearts, a ring shaped brain, blue, copper based blood, and have a lifespan between 6 months and 3 years.

Cuttlefish have amazing eyesight and 'w' shaped pupils. They can change the color of their skin.  At any time, half of their body may be one pattern, while the other is completely different pattern. The patterns aren't necessarily static either, they move, like animation on a TV screen. These animations are thought to aid in communication, hunting and camouflage. To evade predators or hide from prey, they not only rely on their color-changing abilities but will also shape skin on their bodies into textured protrusions, expel ink from their bodies, and 'jet' rapidly away from danger.

Some cuttlefish actually walk across the sand using their bottom two arms and two lobes on the back part of the bottom of the mantle.

One of the most well known features of the cuttle fish is the cuttle bone, which is used by pet owners to provide calcium for caged birds. This lighter-than-balsa-wood, gas filled, multi-chambered internal calcified 'shell' gives the cuttlefish its buoyancy control.

Cuttlefish can also produce copious amounts of ink if startled. This ink has been used by humans as well, the genus shares its name with ink – Sepia.

Cuttlefish are also quite tasty, and prepared in every way possible, from raw to deep fried snack foods.

S. bandensis cuttlefish don't get very big, 4 inches or less, and a single animal can easily be kept in smallish aquarium. They seem to be very reluctant to ink, they tend to become very personable very quickly and, unlike octopus, they don't try to escape from their aquarium. Whenever you walk into a room, they all swim to the front of their tanks to see if they will be fed. They really seem to be the perfect cephalopod for the home aquarium.

http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=5qwt_BM7we...

Answer 3

Cuttlefish are marine animals of the order Sepiida belonging to the Cephalopoda class (which also includes squid, octopuses, and nautiluses). Despite their common name, cuttlefish are not fish but molluscs. Recent studies indicate that cuttlefish are among the most intelligent invertebrate species.

Sniped from Wiki.