Here is another one, in the water column, with nicely mottled upper
surface (including the arms). Notice the blurred skirt, that is keeping
the animal in place.



A close-up of the eye



Here are two cuttlefish, one in the background with its arms in the
attack posture, and one in the foreground, with its arms lowered.



Same picture, in detail:



The skirt in motion: notice how the dots on some parts of the skirt
remain un-blurred, because they were not in motion when the picture was
taken.



As I said before, cuttlefish are more skittish than octopuses. When they
get scared, they do two things: 1) they eject a cloud of ink; and 2) they
use their siphon to jet away from the perceived danger. When they jet
away, they move backwards explosively. Often, because the walls of the
tank are transparent, they crash into the tank walls when they are
jetting, which often results in injury when their flesh is trapped
between the tank wall and their cuttle bone. This kind of injury is
called "butt burn" among aquarists. This picture shows a closeup of the
back of a cuttlefish, with an obvious injury. Also visible is the slot
that separates the left and right skirt/fin, and detailed views of the
dots on the skirt itself.



An extreme closeup of the head and eyes. The side illumination by
sunlight allows you to get a really clear idea of the internal structure
of the eye. Notice the skin texture on the back, behind the eyes.



Another closeup of the eye. Note that the iris is much larger than in
other pictures, because this was taken when there was less light.



I think that the white spots on this cuttlefish are due to either injury
or disease. Sometimes, cuttlefish will fight with each other, either
over food, or to prey on each other, or as part of sexual competition
when they become adults. The origin of these white spots are not clear.

Also notice the brown "eye" spot on the back. This is a normal color
pattern that may be employed to confuse an attacker. The brown
striations are also a normal pattern.



A close-up of the dots on the edge of the skirt/fin.



Eventually, the cuttlefish died. Here is one, with the two tentacles
extended out fully. Notice the huge reach that they have for grabbing prey.



Cuttlefish Movies!