Broadclub cuttlefish

Photo: Shankar Meyer · CC BY-NC

Broadclub cuttlefish are the lagoon's most mesmerising residents, capable of shifting through an extraordinary palette of colour patterns within milliseconds using chromatophores, iridophores, and papillae to alter both hue and skin texture. They hunt small fish and crustaceans using a lightning-fast strike of their two feeding tentacles, sometimes visible in the early morning before divers arrive in numbers. Pairs engage in elaborate courtship displays during spawning aggregations, making late-afternoon dives in March and April particularly spectacular.