Sepiella ornata | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Cephalopoda |
Order: | Sepiida |
Family: | Sepiidae |
Genus: | Sepiella |
Species: | S. ornata |
Binomial name | |
Sepiella ornata (Rang, 1837) | |
Synonyms [2] | |
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Sepiella ornata, or the ornate cuttlefish, is a species of cuttlefish [3] first described by Sander Rang in 1837 based on a specimen caught in the Gulf of Guinea. [4]
Sepiella ornata has a mantle length of up to 100 millimeters, [4] and a total body length of up to 100 centimeters. [5] It has 10 to 14 suckers on each club (10 to 12 on males and 12 to 14 on females), [3] and a series of spots along dorsal fins, described as either reddish [4] or wine-colored. [3]
Sepiella ornata is found in the east Atlantic ocean along the west coast of Africa, from Cape Blanco in Mauritania to Cape Frio in Namibia, [4] including in Ghana,[ citation needed ] Namibia (though rarely), [6] [7] Mauritania, Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and Guinea. [8] It is demersal, [9] with a depth range of 20 to 150 meters, though usually found below 30 meters, [3] and it is most abundant below 50 meters. [4] The species is found between 13 and 16 kilometers offshore. [3] According to Guerra, Gonzalez, Roeleveld, and Jereb it is mostly found on muddy or sandy mud bottoms. [3]
Sepiella ornata has large eggs. [10]
According to Rocha and Cheikh, Sepiella ornata is of potential interest to fisheries. [9] As of 2014, it was mostly caught as bycatch in bottom trawls. [3]