Common cuttlefish

Photo: Nadine Walter-Minauf · CC BY-NC

Common cuttlefish migrate inshore to spawn in the posidonia meadows of Punta Secca from spring through early summer, and the spectacle of males competing for females with rippling chromatic displays is one of the Adriatic's great invertebrate encounters. They lay distinctive black egg capsules — devil's purses — attached to gorgonian branches and posidonia rhizomes. Outside the spawning season, smaller individuals can be found hunting shrimp and small fish across the reef year-round.