175
Chapter 11
Sepia officinalis
António V. Sykes, Pedro Domingues and José Pedro Andrade
J. Iglesias et al. (eds.), Cephalopod Culture, DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-8648-5_11,
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
A. V. Sykes () · J. P. Andrade
CCMAR-CIMAR L.A., Centro de Ciências do Mar do Algarve,
Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
e-mail: asykes@ualg.pt
P. Domingues
Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo, Instituto Español de Oceanografía,
Subida a Radio Faro 50, 36390, Vigo, Spain
Abstract This chapter reviews the importance of the European cuttlefish, Sepia
officinalis, as a potential species for aquaculture and its applications. It provides an
overview of cuttlefish culture, its current state of art and future trends. Present cuttlefish culture-related research and recently developed technologies are described.
This includes a description of the culture systems for the different life stages, broodstock and egg acclimatization to captivity and management, hatchlings, juvenile
and adult-rearing methodologies. Values of fecundity and fertility obtained in different culture conditions (variables include tanks, stocking densities, sex ratios and
food); a characterization of different types of cuttlefish egg morphology; growth
rates, mortality, feeding rates and food conversions at the hatchling and juvenile
stages (including live, frozen and artificial diets); and a comparison between different growout setups are presented. Finally, current bottlenecks are enumerated,
prospects for future research are suggested and an overview of whole animal use by
the industry is given.
Keywords European cuttlefish · Sepia officinalis · Zoo technology · Stocking
densities · Diets · Tank and earthen pond culture
11.1 Commercial Value and Capture Methods
The European cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis Linnaeus 1758, is mostly found in eastern
Atlantic and in the Mediterranean Sea (Boletzky 1983). Cephalopod catches have set
a new record in 2008 (FAO 2010) but only contributed to approximately 4 % of the
world catch from fisheries in 2010 (FAO 2012). Cuttlefish was one of the species
attaining high market value in the Mediterranean and Asian markets (FAO 2010);
Chapter 11
Sepia officinalis
António V. Sykes, Pedro Domingues and José Pedro Andrade
J. Iglesias et al. (eds.), Cephalopod Culture, DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-8648-5_11,
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
A. V. Sykes () · J. P. Andrade
CCMAR-CIMAR L.A., Centro de Ciências do Mar do Algarve,
Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal
e-mail: asykes@ualg.pt
P. Domingues
Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo, Instituto Español de Oceanografía,
Subida a Radio Faro 50, 36390, Vigo, Spain
Abstract This chapter reviews the importance of the European cuttlefish, Sepia
officinalis, as a potential species for aquaculture and its applications. It provides an
overview of cuttlefish culture, its current state of art and future trends. Present cuttlefish culture-related research and recently developed technologies are described.
This includes a description of the culture systems for the different life stages, broodstock and egg acclimatization to captivity and management, hatchlings, juvenile
and adult-rearing methodologies. Values of fecundity and fertility obtained in different culture conditions (variables include tanks, stocking densities, sex ratios and
food); a characterization of different types of cuttlefish egg morphology; growth
rates, mortality, feeding rates and food conversions at the hatchling and juvenile
stages (including live, frozen and artificial diets); and a comparison between different growout setups are presented. Finally, current bottlenecks are enumerated,
prospects for future research are suggested and an overview of whole animal use by
the industry is given.
Keywords European cuttlefish · Sepia officinalis · Zoo technology · Stocking
densities · Diets · Tank and earthen pond culture
11.1 Commercial Value and Capture Methods
The European cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis Linnaeus 1758, is mostly found in eastern
Atlantic and in the Mediterranean Sea (Boletzky 1983). Cephalopod catches have set
a new record in 2008 (FAO 2010) but only contributed to approximately 4 % of the
world catch from fisheries in 2010 (FAO 2012). Cuttlefish was one of the species
attaining high market value in the Mediterranean and Asian markets (FAO 2010);