CHAPTER XV.
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.
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.
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.”
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.