''Sepioloidea magna'' is a species of

cuttlefish Cuttlefish, or cuttles, are Marine (ocean), marine Mollusca, molluscs of the order (biology), suborder Sepiina. They belong to the class (biology), class Cephalopoda which also includes squid, octopuses, and nautiluses. Cuttlefish have a unique ...

, more precisely a bottletail squid, of the family

Sepiadariidae Sepiadariidae is a family of coleoid cephalopods in the order Sepiida Cuttlefish, or cuttles, are marine molluscs of the suborder Sepiina. They belong to the class Cephalopoda which also includes squid, octopuses, and nautiluses. Cuttlefish ...

, indigenous to the waters off northern Australia. It was described by Amanda Reid in 2009 from specimens which were found in the

Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) is the main museum in the Northern Territory. The headquarters of the museum is located in the inner Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin suburb of The Gardens, Northern Territory, The ...

Darwin, Northern Territory Darwin ( Larrakia: ') is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. The city has nearly 53% of the Northern Territory's population, with 139,902 at the 2021 census. It is the smallest, wettest, and most northerly of the Australi ...

. It differs from its congeners in the genus ''

Sepioloidea ''Sepioloidea'' is a genus of cephalopod comprising three species. Species * Genus ''Sepioloidea'' ** ''Sepioloidea lineolata'' (Quoy & Gaimard, 1832), Striped Pyjama Squid ** '' Sepioloidea magna'' Reid, 2009 Reid A. (2009)''Sepioloidea magna'' ...

'' in its larger size, its modified

hectocotylus A hectocotylus (: hectocotyli) is one of the arms of male cephalopods that is specialized to store and transfer spermatophores to the female. Structurally, hectocotyli are muscular hydrostats. Depending on the species, the male may use it merel ...

, the number of tentacular club suckers and the absence of an obvious colour pattern It has been recorded from relatively deep water, between 225m and 300m, in the

Arafura Sea The Arafura Sea (or Arafuru Sea) lies west of the Pacific Ocean, overlying the continental shelf between Australia and Western New Guinea (also called Papua), which is the Indonesian part of the Island of New Guinea. Geography The Arafura Sea is ...

north of Darwin, Australia, and south of the eastern Indonesian islands of

Tanimbar The Tanimbar Islands (; ), also called ''Timur Laut'' (literally, "North East"; ), are a group of about 65 islands in the Maluku province of Indonesia. The largest and most central of the islands is Yamdena; others include Selaru to the sout ...

. Other specimens identified as ''Sepioloidea'' and occurring at similar depths, from the

North West Shelf The North West Shelf is a continental shelf region of Western Australia. It includes an extensive oil and gas region off the North West Australia coast in the Pilbara region. Geology Considerable parts of the region are the highest prospecti ...

, Scott Reef and the

Timor Sea The Timor Sea (, , or ) is a relatively shallow sea in the Indian Ocean bounded to the north by the island of Timor with Timor-Leste to the north, Indonesia to the northwest, Arafura Sea to the east, and to the south by Australia. The Sunda Tr ...

probably also represent this species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q14331253 Sepioloidea Cephalopods described in 2009 Cephalopods of Oceania