What would you do if you have more than eight arms? You’re thinking instantly of octopus aren’t you ? But around Gili Air we often see some other cool creatures of the sea: The Cuttlefish or as we call them Cutiefish. If you’re lucky you can find these geniuses at our dive sites Turtle Heaven, Halik Reef, Frogfish, during a night dive at our House Reef and our dive guide Rozy has his personal friend at Bounty. Cuttlefish also have eight arms and three hearts (Well, who paid attention to ‘Finding Nemo’?). But they also have two feeding tentacles and a long fin around their body. They feed primarily on fish and crustaceans with rapidly shooting out their pair of feeding tentacles. But as we haven’t seen them hunting yet it’s on you to tell us your best cuttlefish story. At least our new Swiss Open Water Diver couple Vivien and Andrea was very excited about some of these wondrous creatures underwater.

But it gets even better: Cuttlefish are incredible masters of mimicing the shape and texture of objects around them to hide from prey. Cuttlefish can change their texture by extending or retracting tiny bumps called papillae which are located across their bodies. Also the males disguise themselves as females when their mating to get past competing males. So they again are masters in camouflage when they use tricky gender-bending maneuvers. With one half of their body they put on a colorful display for the female’s benefit while using the other half to disguise themselves as another female. But that’s not enough mimicking: A male can mute his colors and position his body to look like a female carrying eggs. With this tactic he can sneak past competing males for his opportunity with the female. Boom! Maybe this knowledge will help you with your next romantic sunset on Gili Air. We’re counting on you!