Genus Sepia

Linnaeus, 1758

Sepia juveniles hatch as miniature adults, therefore most adult characters apply also to identify the juveniles.
Shell calcareous. Arm crown with six to eight arms and two tentacles between arms 3 and 4; tentacles retractile into pockets on ventro-lateral sides of the head; all appendages with stalked suckers, suckers with chitinous rings; club suckers in 8-24 rows.
Long and narrow lateral fins present along almost entire mantle length, posteriorly free, not connected in the middle. Glandular pore absent. Mantle broad, robust, oval to circular in outline slightly dorso-ventrally flattened. Funnel locking cartilage semicircular, with tubercle on mantle component and corresponding depression on funnel component.
The genus Sepia has three species in the area that are imposseble to separate in the juvenile stage [Sepia spp.-y ]:

Sepia elegans
Sepia officinalis
Sepia orbignyana

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