Cuttlefish have sucker-lined appendages growing from their heads: eight long and prehensile arms, and two retractile tentacles.  They have a highly developed central nervous system and highly developed complex eyes, which focus by changing the shape of the entire eyeball.  They have thick shells beneath their muscular mantle.  This mantle is expanded and contracted to expel water from the mantle cavity through the funnel.  The mouth consists of a bird-like beak, jaws, and a rasping tongue.

The main diet of cuttlefish is small fish and crustaceans. Cuttlefish shoot out two tentacles, which are usually tucked away in pouches under their eyes.  Prey is then pulled into the powerful suckered arms and then eaten by crushing the animal with their beak.

Cuttlefish can crawl, swim, or employ jet propulsion to burst with surprising speed.  Cuttlefish are prehaps best known for their amazing ability to change color and shape to show aggression, fear, or sexual excitement.  Under their skin, they possess a dense layer of elastic pigment sacs called chromatophores, which are used to change their colour. As camouflage, colour changes are used to match surroundings with extraordinary accuracy, as seen in the video above.  Males duel using an intricate combination of colour and body language, pulsing vivid stripes of blues, purples and greens over their mantles.  Groups of around seven males battle with each other using intense blasts of colour until one emerges as the winner.  He then turns his attentions to the smaller females, mesmerizing them with another kaleidoscopic display (This does not work on human females, many of whom think lava lamps are stupid).  Like all members of the squid family they can use jets of ink to confuse and escape from attackers. 

Until recently, the cuttlefish harvest at the spawning grounds near Whyalla, South Australia, was limited, but new markets in Asia caused a dramatic increase in commercial fishing beginning in 1996.   Despite that, the cuttlefish are not listed by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Also, check out http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/camo/ and click, watch a preview and Anatomy of a Cuttlefish.

"The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink."

Cuttlefish have three hearts and eight arms, yet despite their potential as fabulous lovers, they have one of the most unromantic mating styles in nature.

The cephalopods—cuttlefish aren’t actually fish, they’re relatives of the squid and octopus—get it on by going “head to head.” They join all 16 arms and then the male (who has a special arm just for this purpose) reaches back and grabs a packet of sperm. He passes the packet to the female who tucks it away in a pouch near her mouth where she’s already stored sperm packets from other males. Within a few weeks, the female will select the most appealing sperm packages and use them to fertilize the hundreds of eggs she lays under rocks and in crevices. She’ll die shortly after laying her eggs. (The male dies after the big sperm handoff.)

This mating behavior obviously isn’t what makes the cuttlefish cool, but just about everything else the cuttlefish does makes it a very cool critter. Like their more popular cousins, cuttlefish can squirt a cloud of ink to create an instant smoke screen to hide from predators. But they can also use their ink to form body doubles. As a predator nears, the cuttlefish releases ink in cuttlefish-size globs surrounded by mucous. The predator (a shark, seal, dolphin or other cuttlefish) hesitates and the real cuttlefish sneaks away, leaving its inkblot army behind.

The body double trick is pretty cool, but cuttlefish camo is really where it’s at. All cuttlefish can change shape and color whenever they want, but some, like the broadclub cuttlefish, have trademark moves. When broadclubs hunt, they seem to hypnotize their prey by quickly changing colors and patterns like a strobe light on steroids. As the prey (often a crab) stands stupefied, the cuttlefish’s two tentacles shoot out and grab it.

When two male giant cuttlefish meet, they’ll try to outdo each other with dominant displays of color and macho patterns like zebra stripes. When a male encounters a female, however, he’ll turn himself into Rico Suave, showing her his calm soothing side. But that’s not all. If a male finds himself with an attractive female on one side and a chest-thumping male on the other, he’ll do double duty, flashing dominant displays of masculinity to the male while he’s showing the female his softer side.

Cuttlefish color isn’t all about attraction. Sometimes, cuttlefish adjust their bodies to blend in with their surroundings. They can change the texture of their skin to hide among rocks. But with mating on the line, who would want to look like a rock when you can look like a female? While the big males try to out do each other, smaller males sneak towards the female they’re fighting over. These sneaker males wouldn’t have a chance in Hell if the big guys saw them so they cross-dress by pulling in their webs and changing to a dull mottled pattern. Then they swim under the competing males, sneak under the female, pass her a packet of sperm and get outta there.  

And then there’s the flamboyant cuttlefish, the smallest of the cuttlefish crew. Like all cuttlefish, this little guy has a cuttlebone (a porous structure that allows the cuttlefish to be buoyant). But the cuttlebone is so small—flamboyants max out at about three inches—that it’s too dense to provide buoyancy. The flamboyant makes do—by walking instead of swimming. Of course, this makes it even more vulnerable to predators so it protects itself with poisonous skin. When a predator approaches, the flamboyant cuttlefish struts across the ocean floor with the confidence that only a toxic critter has. It throws up its arms and changes from one bright color to another, presenting the cuttlefish version of a flashing neon sign that says, “I wouldn’t eat me if I were you.”

All in all, the cross-dressing, strobe lighting, shape shifting cuttlefish ain’t too shabby for something related to a snail. 

I've always been hesitant to eat at Blackbird.  It always seemed like a scenester sort of restaurant to me.  As we walked by Avec (Blackbird's sister restaurant just next door), my fears were heightened even further.  And the cold indifference of the hostess at Blackbird was equally as troubling.

Once we sat down though all worries disappeared.  Our server was competent, allowing us to enjoy our cocktails in full before we placed our order.

And when it came to ordering our meal, he was certainly more than accomodating.  My experiences with the appetizer, entree, dessert model of dining have left me a bit disenchanted.  The appetizer is almost always the best thing you eat, the entree seems to last forever, and I never make it to dessert because the entree is always way too big.

So in response to this, Erin and I set out to make our own tasting menu, albeit much cheaper.  We ordered five appetizers, asked the server to course them out, and then ordered glasses of wine to pair (roughly).  The server even one upped our expectations and had the kitchen plate everything on two plates (for the most part).

Our first course was chilled cuttlefish with jicama, snow peas, cardamom cream and fried chocolate.  The cuttlefish was treated like pasta noodles and overall this was a great summertime dish.  I was skeptical of the fried chocolate, but it was so mild that it worked especially with the cardamom cream and added a nice crunch along with the jicama.

The second course was seared Maine diver sea scallops with black trumpet mushrooms, fava beans, fried chicken skin remoulade and pumpernickle.  Again, this was a very nice, light dish, great for the summertime.  The scallops were cooked perfectly; the fried chicken skin remoulade was perplexing, but paired well with the sweetness of the scallops.

For the first two courses we enjoyed a glass of Riesling, which paired exceptionally well with the cuttlefish.

Our third and fourth courses were presented together, mainly because our server thought that they worked that way.  Their website has changed and I can't quite recall all the accoutrements, but the two proteins were sweetbreads with a rye waffle with figs and foie gras.  The foie gras course was fairly simple and presented a fairly large portion (I thought).  And I finally got my sweetbreads in for the week, just a few days late.

The wine I paired for the sweetbreads was a pinot noir.  I was hoping that the foie gras course was going to be presented separately so we could have a sauternes, but that wasn't the case (it didn't pair nearly as well with the pinot noir).

The last savory course we had was a charcuterie plate of mole country pate and smoked eel rillette, with green almonds, cucumber, haricots verts and sesame brittle.  The pate contained ample amounts of diced foie gras in it, the eel rillette was delicious, and the sesame brittle offered a nice sweet contrast to the richness of the meats.

For dessert we had roasted pineapple with brioche ice cream, hibiscus and puffed 'cinnamon toast'.  The dessert was really good, but the star of the plate was the brioche ice cream - I just wish that there was more of it on the plate.

Overall we had a great experience and I'm glad we were able to eat at Blackbird before we were able to leave Chicago.  In the same price range though are North Pond and 160 Blue, both of which I would actually recommend over Blackbird, despite all its awards.

As for the whole scenester thing, it didn't seem too bad, though there were some pretty huge (and purchased) boobs on display.  In no way would I go there on a weekend or recommend anyone to do so.  I imagine it would be insufferable. 

And lastly I've read that the restaurant is loud.  I thought the volume was at a good level, mostly in part because you're seated so close to other people that you don't want them listening in to your conversation.  And just like rock and roll, if it's too loud, then you're too old.

Our server was awesome and very helpful. He let us enjoy our cocktails instead of rushing us to order. When we told him we wanted to share a bunch of appetizers, he didn't bat an eye and even coursed it out for us and chose a nice progression of the food.

We had:
  chilled cuttlefish with jicama, snow peas, cardamom cream, and fried chocolate
  seared maine diver scallops with black trumpet mushrooms and grapefruit
  crispy veal sweetbreads with rye waffle and figs
  foie gras with something tasty (can't quite remember)
  charcuterie plate of mole country pate and smoked eel rillette
  roasted pineapple with brioche ice cream, hibiscus and puffed 'cinnamon toast'

It was first experience with cuttlefish and I loved it. It is light and a little sweet in flavor and I devoured every last bit of it. The sea scallops were cooked beautifully and just melted in my mouth. The sweetbreads were awesome (although I let Alan have more since it was his birthday), and I really enjoyed the figs with them. Ahhh. . . foie gras. Oh so good. . . The charcuterie plate was fantastic. We were both a bit curious and suspicious of the smoked eel rillette and it proved to be really good. That dessert was delicious. The brioche ice cream was really salty; I love salty ice cream.

The meal was a success and one we will fondly remember.

Ok, you are right, this one here, the cuttlefish, or seppia, is not necessarily a lot more nicer looking than yesterday's dragonfish, but it does taste as fine, especially when filled - second day, second filled fish - is this going to be a theme? Well, technically, this is not a fish!

Chop the heads off and a) deep-fry and eat separately (sorry, no picture, gone too quick!) b) put them on a skewer, grill and serve with chopped mint, olive oil and balsamic vinegar (no picture again, no good light that time) c) fry them with bulbs of young garlic (in season) and use to fill up the main body parts!

This is one of my versions, layer 1:

Basically, just get whatever vegetables are in season, add some stock or white wine or even water and put it in the oven.

Layer 2:

By the way, learn from my mistakes: leave the artichokes out. They don't work in this combo.

Here is another version:

Shallots fit perfectly into the cavities of the seppia. And then go on with other vegetables:

Believe me, almost any combo goes. Take what vegetables your farmers market offers, whatever is in season, puts some herbs and some liquid and then into the oven with it. That was it!

That's not to say that the embryos will track a particular animal throughout development, and then spear tackle it once they're free from the egg. Dr. Dickel and his colleauges at the University of Caen Basse-Normandy placed crabs near some cuttlefish eggs, and none at all near others. The cuttlefish that hatched from the eggs exposed to crabs showed a strong preference for crabs upon emerging, while those not exposed to any particular prey type showed a preference for shrimp. This indicates that cuttlefish embryos are capable of visual learning from within the egg. I don't know about you, but that blows my mind. I love this stuff!

The article goes on to point out that other animals are known to learn during embryonic development. Seagulls are able to learn their parents' alarm calls before hatching, and frog embryos can learn the chemical signatures of the water surrounding them before emerging as tadpoles. Cuttlefish embryos, however, are the only ones known so far to learn visually while still in the egg.

Has anyone looked into this for mammals? When I have kids, can I save them a few years of public school while they're still comfy in the womb?

awwwwww, this little guy isn't doing a good job looking like a rock with his bright blue coloration. but who cares? he is cute!

Thank you to TheGirlsMum from the River Cottage Forum who sent them to me!

It's time to raise our voice in prayer,
And pray to--well, there's no one there.
No god to urge to do our bidding;
Go on and pray--just know you're kidding.

It's time to all sit on our asses,
And pray forgiveness for trespasses
(Or is that to forgive our debtor?
Who cares, as long as we feel better.)

It's time we all embrace god fully,
Feel all righteous, good, and holy--
Or be some atheistic jerk,
Roll up your god-damned sleeves, and work!

It's time to say "I do not care
To join you in this day of prayer."
Sure, a day off looks like fun,
But there is work that must be done.

Our problems will not fix themselves
There is no god to send in elves
To do the work of human ranks
So... join, today, in prayer? No thanks.

Starbix

"Don't Panic." -Douglas Adams

                    
  6      medium  cuttlefish -- cleaned, whole
  100 grams  onion -- sliced
          olive oil
          parsley -- chopped
  1      kilogram  chopped tomato (fresh or tinned)
  600 grams  linguine
  100 grams  pecorino pugliese -- grated

Please check the new postings at:
sake, shochu and sushi

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Not a great picture, I must admit. But I was in hurry and had no time to arrange it on a plate before my wife jumped on it!
This is a Sashimi Set I bought at Parche Supermarket inside Shizuoka JR Station yesterday evening for less than 10 US$.
There was enough for 2~4 people. It includes all the edible parts of one "yari-ika":
From top to bottom, left to right:
Tail "fins" slightly boiled, slightly grilled main body "cone", main body "cone" raw.
Cuttlefish strips rolled with seaweed raw, "ika somen"/ main body cone cut in long thin strips raw, tentacles/"geso" raw.