
Pharaoh Cuttlefish - Sepia pharaonis
The Pharaoh Cuttlefish - Sepia pharaonis are big in size, growing up to half a meter.
Pharaoh cuttlefish often show a solid color when resting on a solid color background, alternating from a pale white to all dark brown. Additionally, they can show a mottled white and brown color, with a center circle of brown. The mechanism for color is the same in the Pharaoh cuttlefish as it is in other cuttlefish. This colour-changing function is produced by groups of red, yellow, brown, and black pigmented chromatophores above a layer of reflective blue and green tinted iridophores and leucophores, with up to 200 of these specialized pigment cells per square millimeter. These sacs of color are controlled by rings of muscle around the sac. The cuttlefish expands and contracts these muscle rings in order to show different colors.

The pharaoh cuttlefish is a large cuttlefish species, growing to 42 cm in mantle length and 5 kg in weight. When raised in the laboratory, the maximum recorded size for males is 16.2 cm, and for females 15.5 cm.
''Sepia pharaonis'' is likely a complex of at least three species, ''Sepia pharaonis I'', commonly located in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, ''S. pharaonis II'', located from Japan to the Gulf of Thailand and northern Australia; and ''S. pharaonis III'', located from the Indian.. more