Hangs in small groups in midwater, often over the same jetty light night after night.
A squid with a mantle to about 40 cm, distinguished by fins that run almost the entire length of the mantle rather than forming a terminal pair. In profile the outline is a broad oval and the animal is often mistaken for a cuttlefish, from which it differs in having no internal cuttlebone, a more pointed rear end and a hovering rather than a bottom-hugging habit. Colour shifts rapidly between transparent, mottled brown and a hard white flecked with iridescence.
Occurs in small groups, typically three to a dozen, holding position in midwater and facing into the current. Around jetties and moored boats they gather under lights after dark to take the small fish and shrimps drawn there, and the same structure will hold squid on successive nights. Eggs are laid in white finger-like capsules attached to dead coral, rope and rubbish, and are easy to find under a jetty. Life span is under a year. They will hold station at two or three metres from a diver and retreat only in short steps, which makes them among the more approachable cephalopods.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.
