Body Patterning of Sepia officinalis in Captivity, from Feeding to Reproduction

The increasing demand of fish products and the depletion of natural fish stocks rise the need to develop aquaculture and enlarge the variety of farmed species (fishes and molluscs principally). Among the Cephalopods, the scientific research focused on the common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris) and on the European Cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis). The present study analysed the behaviour of S. officinalis in captivity focusing specially on body patterning during alimentation and reproduction, in order to collect data regarding the behaviour of the molluscs and the possibility to consider this cephalopod among the marine organisms successfully farmable in the aquaculture industry. The experiments have been carried out using adult wild-caught specimens of S. officinalis to determine the adaptability of brood-stock to artificial controlled conditions of the tanks, and the possibility/strategy to use dead feed for cuttlefish alimentation. The results of our experiments provided important information in this field, especially in the body patterning showed by the specimens during all the phases of rearing, providing the occurrence of “natural” behaviours in captivity of the cuttlefish and amplifying the knowledge on S. officinalis optimal rearing conditions.