cuttlefish
Americannoun
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cuttlefish,
plural
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cuttlefishes
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cuttlefish
1400–50; late Middle English codel, Old English cudele cuttlefish + fish
Vocabulary lists containing cuttlefish
Marine Biology - Middle School
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Marine Biology - High School
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Example Sentences
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Octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish possess some of the most sophisticated nervous systems in the animal kingdom, giving them remarkable abilities such as solving problems and rapidly changing their appearance to blend into their surroundings.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026
To investigate this possibility, the research team reconstructed the three-dimensional organization of the genome in octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026
This was particularly worrying as cuttlefish, along with other cephalopods like octopus and squid, are particularly vulnerable to the toxic algae.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
Crucially, adult cuttlefish only live about 12 to 18 months, Katz said, "so the success of one breeding season is going to determine the population next year".
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
He then gives a pretty full account of the cuttlefish and nautilus, treats of the crustaceous animals generally, and enters into details respecting the other two classes.
From Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnæus with Introductory remarks on the Study of Natural History by William MacGillivray
Roger Hanlon of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass., and his colleagues recently discovered that cuttlefishes actively express opsin genes throughout their skin, particularly in their fins and underbellies.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 20, 2012
Presumably the octopus and cuttlefish employ the same method of self-defense; they are not the only ones: Extremely sly and subtle fishes Are octopi or cuttlefishes.
From Time Magazine Archive
The dolphin is exceedingly voracious, feeding on fish, cuttlefishes and crustaceans.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 6 "Dodwell" to "Drama" by Various
Also very notable was the abundance of predatory cuttlefishes, the bullies of the ancient seas.
From The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) A Plain Story Simply Told by J. Arthur Thomson
There are wonderfully complete fossil series, e.g. among cuttlefishes, in which we can almost see evolution in process.
From The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) A Plain Story Simply Told by J. Arthur Thomson
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