Friday 19 April 2013

Cuttlefish Bone

Cuttlebone - the internal shell of a cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis)

There have been reports of cuttlefish bones being washed up on the east coast of Scotland after the recent stormy weather and today found two of them on the beach at Lower Largo.
In spite of its name, the Cuttlefish is actually a mollusc, belonging to the same class of animals as squid and octopuses. The cuttlebone is an internal shell which is porous to gas and air and used as a buoyancy regulator.

2 comments:

Alan McGillveray said...

I found three of these bones on the beach at Shellbay near Elie a few weeks ago. Didn't even know we had cuttlefish in Scotland. Have learnt a lot recently about them.

Cheers

Alan

Largo observer said...

Many thanks for your comment.

These were the first that I'd seen on the beach in Largo.

I remember my Mother putting a piece of cuttlefish in the budgie's cage but didn't realise then that they could be found on beaches around the UK.