News from Hastings
Baby Cuttles Boom at Blue Reef Hastings
Hastings Blue Reef Aquarium is celebrating the arrival of dozens of baby cuttlefish this week.
The mini-marvels, each less than a centimetre long, were born in one of the aquarium nursery displays from eggs - known as sea grapes - which were brought in by a fisherman.
Shortly afterwards the adults in the main display also laid their own eggs!
Blue Reef's Paul Hills said: "As the eggs develop they swell and the ink coating becomes thinner so you can see the tiny cuttlefish inside. To then see the babies swimming around the display when they've hatched is fantastic.
"They're exact miniature replicas of the adults and they all seem to be doing really well," he added.
Cuttlefish are close relatives of the octopus. Like their eight-legged cousins they have specially adapted skin cells which can rapidly change colour to match their moods and communicate with each other.
They also squirt ink to confuse their predators and can hover motionless above the sandy substrate in the display using their internal cuttlebone as a buoyancy organ.
Scientists have identified at least 13 different types of cuttlefish body pattern that the young are capable of straight from hatching.
"They really are incredible creatures. For most people their only experience of cuttlefish is the bone that they feed to their pet bird," said Paul.
"When visitors see them hovering in mid-water or rapidly changing colour as they communicate to each other they are absolutely amazed, and even more so when the cuttlefish react to them!
"The most common comments we get from people when they see the cuttles for the first time is that they look like something out of the movie, Alien!" he added.
Although they are believed to be highly intelligent, cuttlefish are relatively short lived creatures, with a maximum lifespan of 18 months. For females the situation is even worse as they breed only once and die soon after laying their eggs.
