📸 PhotoPhoto: Jenny (JennyHuang) from Taipei · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Flamboyant cuttlefish
Ascarosepion pfefferi (Flamboyant cuttlefish · ミナミハナイカ)
Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its maximum mantle length of 6 cm is slightly longer than two Korean 500-won coins (diameter about 2.65 cm) placed side by side (Comparison).
- 💡 Its toxin has been found to be a novel type and may have potential applications in future pharmaceutical research (ADW).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The flamboyant cuttlefish is a small cuttlefish living on tropical seafloors from northern Australia to New Guinea and Indonesia. It is one of three known venomous cephalopod species.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its body has white and yellow markings on a dark brown ground with purplish-pink arms, and its mantle is a broad, flattened oval. The internal shell (cuttlebone) characteristic of cuttlefish is about 2/3 to 3/4 the length of the mantle.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
Active during the day, it 'walks' along the seafloor to hunt crustaceans and fish. When threatened, it displays black, white, and yellow mottled patterns and turns its arm tips bright red to warn of its toxicity.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List: not evaluated (NE) — cross-checked with the Wikidata conservation-status entry
- • marinespecies.org — aphia.php
- • wikidata.org — Q133273013
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Flamboyant Cuttlefish-2.jpg
- • sealifebase.se — Metasepia-pfefferi.html
- • animaldiversity.org — Metasepia pfefferi
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Kurtis Wothe · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Sepiidae)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.