On 2 June 2000 Matt Stribley counted over 500 cuttlebones on a 500 metre stretch below Phillack Towans. A range of sizes of the Common Cuttle have been seen and they are complete, with for example, no teeth marks to indicate that they have been eaten. In the last issue of Torpedo 48, I made a mistake over the identification of the smaller of the two species of Cuttlefish. In the illustration the species on the left is Sepia orbignyana and on the right Sepia officinalis . There seems to be a lot of both cuttlefishes and squids around this year.
Chitin is the main component of the exoskeleton of all crustaceans.
The Marine Life Forum is for observations and discussion items. However in the June 2000 issue there is a special World Oceans Day issue on rockpooling on the shore . Environmental Sciences Unit, Trinity College, Dublin. We had originally planned to bring this service to our members. However, as Sue is already producing this series, I have decided to devote my energies to producing other information.