No photo available
Pharaoh cuttlefish
Acanthosepion pharaonis
Valid name (WoRMS, AphiaID 1666972, checked 2026-10-31).
- English
- Pharaoh cuttlefish
- Scientific
- Acanthosepion pharaonis
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Family
- Sepiidae (cuttlefishes)
- Maximum size
- Up to about 43 cm (mantle length)
- Depth and habitat
- Sea floor (benthic), recorded from 0 to 130 m
- IUCN status
- NE · Not EvaluatedNot Evaluated (NE)
Description
The pharaoh cuttlefish is a medium-sized cuttlefish with a broad, oval body, often brown with pale zebra-like bands on the back and arms, which it can change in an instant. It lives over sand, seagrass and reef edges and hunts crabs, shrimps and small fish.
In the Maldives
Recorded from the Maldives: iNaturalist research-grade observations in the Maldives (n=4, 4 observers); literature records via OBIS.
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Acanthosepion-pharaonis.html
- marinespecies.org /aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=1666972
- inaturalist.org /taxa/1500642
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Acanthosepion_pharaonis.jpg
Dhivehi name source: No species-level Dhivehi name found in Dhivehi Wikipedia, SeaLifeBase (country: Maldives) or MRS/MMRI invertebrate publications.