Sepia typica (Steenstrup 1875)

Sepia typica (Steenstrup, 1875)

ILLUSTRATIONS.—Adam and Rees, 1966, pl. 32: figs. 192–195, pl. 33: figs. 196, 197.

DIAGNOSIS.—Animals mature at small size (maximal ML to 25 mm). Ventral surface of mantle with 2 fleshy ridges, each with 5–15 (usually 10–12) pores. Skin very sparsely papillose dorsally. Arm suckers biserial. Basal of left arm IV hectocotylized, bearing 9–13 pairs of minute suckers in 2 widely spaced series separated by fleshy transverse ridges. Tentacular club small, with numerous, subequal suckers in 6 oblique, transverse rows. Sepion very thin, degenerate, not calcified. Phragmocone much shorter than dorsal shield, triangular in shape.

ORIGINAL REFERENCE.—Steenstrup, 1875:468, figs. 1–10, pl. I, pl. II: fig. 1.

TYPE LOCALITY.—South Africa, Table Bay, 33°50′S, 18°27′E.

TYPES.—Holotype: Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen, female, 26 mm ML.

Paratypes: None.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.—From Saldanha Bay (33°00′S, 17°56′E), South Africa, to southern Mozambique.

Sepia typica is a species of cuttlefish native to the southwestern Indian Ocean and southeastern Atlantic Ocean. Its natural range stretches from Saldanha Bay, South Africa () to southern Mozambique. It lives at depths of 2 to 290 m.

Sepia typica is a very small species, growing to only 26 mm in mantle length.

The type specimen was collected in Table Bay, South Africa (). It is deposited at the Kobenhavns Universitet Zoologisk Museum in Copenhagen.