Genus Sepiola

Leach, 1817

Shell reduced to chitinous gladius. Ten circumoral appendages; suckers with chitinous rings. tentacular club with suckers in up to 16 rows Posterior fin lobes free, not connected in the middle. Eyes open, not covered by a cornea; gills without branchial canal between afferent and efferent branchial blood vessels; digestive gland paired; each tooth of the radula with a single cusp; buccal membrane present.
Mantle-funnel locking cartilage simple and straight. Mantle short, broad and sac-like; fins large, round, separated. Anterior edge of dorsal mantle free. Ink sac with a more or less bilobed, non-parallel kidney bean-shaped light organ on each side.

Two Sepiola species in the area:

Sepiola atlantica
Sepiola aurantiaca

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