CUTTLES.
The old trouble about a name crops up again. We have had to endure
star-fish, jelly-fish, shell-fish, and now there remains cuttle--no, we
will not say cuttle-_fish_. My neighbours, the brave Cornish fishermen,
do not say the word, neither will I. With them it is “cuddle,” with me
it shall be Cuttle, Squid, Octopus, and so forth.
The term Gasteropoda has been explained as comprising those mollusks
whose belly is also their locomotive base, so it will be easy to show
that the class Cephalopoda consists of those mollusks whose feet
(_tentacles_) are ranged round their head (Greek, _Kephale_, head, and
_poda_, feet). They are the most highly developed of all the mollusca,
and consequently come nearest to the back-boned animals (_vertebrata_).
In them we find the first form of a skull, for the nervous system is
more concentrated, and the brain has a cartilaginous covering. The head
is distinct, and there are two large and prominent though stalkless
eyes. The jaws are powerful, and these work in a similar manner to the
bill of a bird. There is a thick, fleshy tongue partly covered with
hooks for tearing flesh. The round or elongated body has usually a flap
on each side, which serve the office of fins. The respiratory apparatus
consists of two plume-like gills, enclosed in a large branchial cavity,
communicating with the outer waters by a siphon or funnel. They also
possess a bag of reliable black ink, of so readily soluble and miscible
a character that a little ejected through a special duct will raise
a dense cloud in the water with great rapidity, and under its cover
the cuttle can quickly disappear. The tentacles number eight in some
species, ten in others, and they are studded with a great number
of suckers, which appear to be set to work almost automatically on
coming into contact with any animal substance, to which they adhere so
perfectly that, unless the will of the animal interposes to release
their hold, it is easier to tear off the tentacle from the cuttle’s
body than to separate it from its victim.
[Illustration: OCTOPUS.]
The Cuttles cannot strictly be called shore creatures, but they are
very active, and come into every zone, the littoral as well as others;
and though we are not very likely to come across the animal itself, we
are sure to find Cuttle-“bones” upon the beach, and bunches of their
eggs. In our investigations of the rocks at low water, we may perchance
come across a specimen of the Octopus, hiding in its hole under the
weeds, or beneath a big stone we have just overturned. Occasionally,
too, it may be found in a pool that is covered by a fathom or so of
water at ordinary low tides. On being discovered, it immediately, and
with considerable force, ejects a stream of water through its syphon
from the branchial chamber, and by the recoil is sent backward through
the water. As it does so we can see the play of colour over its body,
showing that the pigment-cells are ever ready to accommodate themselves
to the surroundings, that the Cuttle’s skin may imitate them. It is not
very likely to discharge its inky cloud, for _Octopus vulgaris_ is not
so ready as other species to empty its ink-bag, and the ink is of a
thicker, less soluble nature.
The principal food of the Octopus appears to be the smaller crustacea,
and their hunting period after sunset. This is the reason why so common
an animal is so little seen. The shell is represented in the Octopus
by two short rods of shelly matter embedded in the mantle. The body is
like a round-bottomed bag, there being no side expansions (so-called
_fins_), and the arms are connected by a web at their base, the suckers
in two rows. The eyes fixed and staring.
Much more in evidence as a shore animal is the Sepia, the true Cuttle
(_Sepia officinalis_), which lives in shallow water, and whose
egg-clusters and broad internal shell we frequently encounter on the
beach. The Octopus has but eight arms all told; the Sepia is adorned
with other two, but these are different from the eight, and may be more
correctly distinguished as tentacles. They are much longer than the
Sepia’s body, very narrow, and without suckers, except near their free
ends, where they expand considerably. The outline of the body, apart
from the head and arms, is like that of a shield with pointed base.
There are narrow expansions right along the sides, serving as fins, the
suckers are stalked, and the large eyes are moveable in their sockets.
There are four rows of suckers on each arm, and the arms are short. The
shell is the familiar “Cuttle-bone” sold by bird dealers, to provide
imprisoned songsters with the necessary lime, and by chemists to be
pounded and used as a dentifrice. These shells are familiar to all, and
need not be described. They are exceedingly light for their size, one
of average proportions(7¼ by 2½ inches) weighing less than one ounce.
This is the average of the large shells one finds upon the beach, but a
full-sized one would be about ten inches in length. It is technically
known as the _sepiostaire_, but “Cuttle-shell” (not “bone”) is good
enough for common use. It should be observed that this shell serves as
a complete shield for the back of the Sepia, it being merely covered by
the mantle, to which, however, it is not attached. Besides its value as
a shield to the Sepia, it is also useful as a float, for the Sepia is
an active swimming creature, not a crawler on the sea-bottom like the
Octopus.
[Illustration: SEPIA.]
The Sepia’s ink-bag must not be forgotten; you are not likely to
forget it if you capture a Cuttle. On one occasion when I had been out
in the sean-boat capturing mackerel, I saw several Sepias swimming
about among the imprisoned fish, and a couple of these contrived to
be dipped up in the tucking mound, and cast into the boat with the
fish. One of these I claimed as part of my share, but when we landed
the creature was in such a mess with his own spilt ink that I essayed
to wash him in a pool. I soon tired of that, for the more I washed,
the more freely the ink was poured out. The Sepia sometimes visits the
fish-nets and seans in shoals, and does great damage to the catch; but
fish are equally fond of Sepia, and if you can get hold of a couple
of these, or of Squid, on starting for a fishing excursion, to cut up
for bait, you will scarcely want anything better. The Sepia’s eggs, in
clusters not unlike bunches of grapes, are frequently cast up on the
shore by storms, and there is no great difficulty in hatching out such
of the eggs as have not been injured by the buffeting against rocks
and shingle they have experienced. The young Cuttle is a miniature
_replica_ of its parent, and conducts itself as “a chip of the old
block.”
[Illustration: SQUID (_loligo_).]
The Squid (_Loligo vulgaris_) is a much longer and narrower species of
Cuttle, similar to the Sepia in its head parts, but the arms have but
two rows of suckers on each, though the clubbed ends of the tentacles
have four rows. The fins are short and angular, placed at the hinder
end of the body, which runs off to a long sharp point behind them. The
shell is not a broad expansion like that of Sepia, but more like a
pen with a long holder or shaft in front of it. Whilst the Squids are
splendid swimmers, they also crawl, head downwards. This is the species
that is chiefly sought for bait, and vast numbers are used in the
Newfoundland Cod-fishery.
There are a number of species of Cephalopods to be caught off our
coasts, but the only other that we are likely to find any trace of
upon the shore is the Little Cuttle (_Sepiola rondeletii_), whose body
is short, with rounded side fins, contracted at their base, and whose
entire length is only a couple of inches. The suckers are in two rows
on the arms, and in four rows on the tentacles; in this respect it
agrees with _Loligo_, to which it is much more nearly related than to
_Sepia_. It is a very active swimmer, and it has a small pen similar to
that of _Loligo_.