kelolalaut.com - Cuttlefish is a marine invertebrate that belong to Cephalopod Class. The appearance of this creature is similar to their cousins, squid and octopus, but cuttlefish is much smaller in size. The smallest cuttlefish species is only one or two inches and the largest species, the Australian Giant Cuttlefish, can be grow up to 20 inches and weigh about 23 pounds. Cuttlefish has a long and mostly flat body, their mouth look like a parrot beak, and long fins on their both side, they also has a gas-filled cuttlebone inside their mantle. This cuttlebone is used as a buoyancy rather than protection. Cuttlefish also has eight arms and two tentacles. Those arms and tentacles are contains a series of suction pads that are used to catch their prey.
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Cuttlefish is a carnivorous animal, so they will prey on small fish, crustacean, and molluscs. They will use their beak that located inside their arms to crack open the tough shell of a prey and so they can extract the meat within. Despite they are eating another small marine creature, cuttlefish also a prey for some larger marine creature like dolphin, seals, and birds. To defend themselves from predators threat, they have several defence mechanism. They will release a cloud of ink into waters to confuse their predators, some of the species also has venom that helps protect them from predators.
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Cuttlefish can move at an incredibly fast speeds via jet propulsion. This works when they sucking in water through a body cavity then expelling it with their powerful muscles. Their fins allow them to maneuver at high speeds. This ability is very helpful when it comes to escape from fast and agile predators. They also have another ability, which they can change their color to blend in with their environment. This ability is possible because they have a cell pigment that called chromatophores. Cuttlefish change their color for many reasons, like camouflage, attract mates, communicates, even to attract prey with quick and debilitating flashes.
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