User:Camille.cain/Pharaoh cuttlefish

Hunting[ edit]
Most cephalopods use their two elongated tentacles for prey hunting, and particularly cuttlefish are known to use a three step process of attention, positioning, and seizure. Adult pharaoh cuttlefish and most juveniles begin their attention stance with throwing their arms and tentacles into a triangle shape turning to the prey, followed by a positioning stage where the tentacles are moved slowly from the center of the triangle as they move towards their prey. They finish this with their seizure phase where they move forward until lunging their tentacles rapidly to grasp their prey before retracting the prey back towards them. Due to their small squat body size and lack of speedy propulsion, Sepia pharaonis have adapted to use this ambush style of tentacle lunging.

Reproduction[ edit]
Females undergo a series of phases when laying their eggs, beginning with a temporary posture where their arms are held in a fist-like position. They follow this with extending their arms forward and venting onto the spawning ground and eggs via their funnels, before extending their arms to deposit the laid eggs onto the proper substrata.

Coloring and Mimicry[ edit]
Similarly to other cuttlefish, pharaoh cuttlefish use these chromatophores for camouflage and other cryptic behaviors. They have many types of body patterns, including uniform, mottled, or disruptive. While they have no preference in using any of them, the use of each pattern depends on the surrounding environment as well as predators and prey within the area, and they may even produce a mixed type of body pattern depending on the substrate around them. Depending on the richness of the environment around them, juvenile cuttlefish have exhibited a clear response to color changing and cryptic behavior early on when in sandy loose ocean floors with surrounding objects. Physical enrichment allows the cuttlefish to better explore and learn its surroundings in order to correctly display the coloring and camouflage needed for survival.

In addition to color mimicry, cuttlefish and other cephalopods have shown instances of imitating other species, whether for scaring off predators or luring in prey. The pharaoh cuttlefish in particular has been witnessed exhibiting an arm flapping behavior where their first pair of arms are raised and wrinkled at the distal end (away from the body), with the second and third arm pairs bent and flapped at the distal ends as well. While mostly observed during hunting and believed to be a sort of lure by mimicry of hermit crabs to get closer to prey, as hermit crabs are bottom feeders, the cause of the unique flapping display will need to be further verified.

Human Uses[ edit]
The ink of the cuttlefish has also been tested for antibacterial properties, and has been found to display the minimum inhibitory concentrations needed to act as an antibiotic to strains such as E. coli and Staphylococcus epidermidis.