The Cuttlefish, a close relative of the Squid and the Octopus, is one of the most fascinating animals to be found in Irish waters. It spends most of its day resting, semi-buried, in the sea-bed, where it is able to change its colour to blend in almost perfectly with its surroundings. The Cuttlefish’s fantastic ability to camouflage itself is its key defence technique: it can change the entire colour of its skin within a second! But, like the Octopus and Squid, it can also squirt out thick black ink to confuse any predator which does spot it.

Cuttlefish are warmer water fish, found commonly in the Mediterranean , and so are only usually found round the warmer southern Irish coast, though there have been reports of the odd one being spotted as far north as Galway Bay .

The Cuttlefish has eight arms, and it also has two long, retractable tentacles, which it uses to catch its prey. These tentacles are armed with sticky pads at the end, and when the Cuttlefish has crept close enough to its prey, it shoots these tentacles out and grabs the prey. The prey becomes stuck to the pads, and the Cuttlefish is able to grab it with the remaining arms.

They have a short life cycle, similar to the Octopus: when they mature at around two years old they find a mate, breed, and then stop feeding. They survive long enough to guard the eggs until they hatch, then both parents die.

The eggs laid by the female Cuttlefish resemble black grapes, and are laid in a batch of two or three hundred, attached to a piece of weed. The young Cuttlefish hatch after about three months as fully formed individuals who are able to fend for themselves and hunt small crustaceans in among weed and rocks.