Flamboyant Cuttlefish, Metasepia pfefferi

This is a beautiful but challenging animal from the Indo-Pacific. Females have a mantle length of up to 8cm/3.1”, males slightly smaller. It's best kept in a species tank and has a short lifespan of only a year.

The muscle tissue of this species is highly toxic and research has shown that the toxin is as lethal as that of the Blue-ringed octopus.

Metasepia pfefferi- rare in the aquaria, but by far hands down the most spectacular of the cuttlefish. 

A minimum of a 30gallon aquarium should be offered if possible a 30 gallon high. Water temperature should be 75 -80 degrees, Ph 8.2-8.4 and a salinity of 1.025. Water quality is essential. As with all invertebrates cooper is a no no. The life expectancy is 1-1.5 years. The diet should vary but include shrimp, krill, mysis, crabs and fish. Frozen may eventually be accepted but live is better.

It is best for the aquarium to be firmly established with healthy populations of amphipods and mysid shrimp. The flesh of this cuttlefish is poisonous, containing a unique toxin and has been determined to be as lethal as that of fellow cephalopod the Blue-ringed octopus.

This small but feisty cuttlefish can be found ambling along the seafloor on two arms and fins that combine to make leglike appendages. Unlike other cuttlefish species, the flamboyant cuttlefish doesn’t dart away when threatened. It remains stationary, flashing its hypnotic color scheme and pulsing its fins. 

Its bold coloration and behaviour may be a warning sign to predators.

This cuttlefish lives only a short time — between 18 and 24 months. Because the flamboyant cuttlefish will only eat live prey, it’s a difficult (and expensive) animal to raise and exhibit. Here at the Aquarium, juveniles will only eat live mysids and adults will only eat live grass shrimp.

The cuttlefish’s flat body allows it to live and hover near the ocean bottom where it finds its favorite food. An outer shell once covered the cuttlefish’s body but has since evolved into a porous internal shell called a cuttlebone. The flamboyant cuttlefish has a small, thick, diamond-shaped cuttlebone that extends about two-thirds the length of its body. Due to the small size of its cuttlebone, flamboyants can float only for a short time.

• A male fights for a choice mating den. Most fights end without major injuries. After the male wins its territory, female cuttlefish appear at the dens and mate with resident males
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• Fertilization is internal. Face to face, the cuttlefish embrace and the male uses a special arm to transfer a sperm packet into the female’s mantle cavity. After mating the female retreats deep within a den, crevice or rock ledge where she lays her eggs one at a time. She coats the eggs with a protective sheath and carefully cements them to the roof of the den or crevice. She then leaves the eggs unattended to develop and hatch on their own. The female dies shortly thereafter.
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• Unlike most other cephalopods that are nocturnal, flamboyant cuttlefish are active during the day and can be seen hunting crustaceans and small fishes