5 replies to this topic

[robmcmahon]

I have had a look through the suggest sites for Identifying wee beasties and the closest I can find is a crinoid cuttlefish.

The photo was taking at 15m off the wall at Sipidan in the early evening last August. The cuttlefish was only approx 1cm long and very skittish. It was a nightmare trying to keep track of him/her !!

Any suggestions ?

[james]

I would send this one to Dr. James Wood - he can help. He's a member here so you can track him down through Wetpixel.

Cheers
James

[JamesWood]

Nice pict.

I don't know the cephs from that part of the world well enough to ID most of them from a pict. They can be tricky as they change colors, texture and shape. You might want to try Mark Norman's book, "cephalopods of the world" or look online on CephBase.

James

[scubamarli]

I saw a similar one at Lembeh, while I was busy looking at a pygmy seahorse. It was hiding in the arms of a small sponge, as well. I was told it was a "Pygmy cuttlefish". It was an inch long. Of course, the sponge got between the camera and the critter.

[lovells19]

capture this at Mabul, Sipadan
is this the same one? its very small around 4cm in length, but it stood still there and let me fire off all the shots i want to.

[scubamarli]

I finally got a chance to scan this one that looks the same from Lembeh: the soft left side is from the sponge between my lens and the critter: darn. There's a similar, but differently coloured one in Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific, which was undescribed at publication: p.188
Marli