206 



MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN 



VOL XIV, 



Cuttlefishes {Sepia spp.), called Oltn kamwai in Palk Bay 

 where they abound more than anywhere else on our coasts, have a 

 large fleshy flattened body, bordered with a narrow frill-like fin on 

 either side, a head furnished with two great goggle eyes, and beset 

 with tentacles of the same general character as in Loligo, but 

 instead of the long horny " pen " seen in the latter, the cuttlefish has 

 a broad stoutly built " bone " composed of fine calcareous lamina 

 enclosing air spaces. This cuttle bone has value for rubbing down 

 paint in fine coachwork and a minor industry on the Ramnad 



Fig. 59. Egg Clusters of Squid (Loligo) attached to a rope. 



coast is the collection of these bones during the monsoon when 

 they drift ashore in numbers. The brown pigment called ' sepia ' 

 is another minor commercial product obtained from the cuttle and 

 its relatives ; the brown pigment, when genuine, represents the 

 dried and pulverized contents of the ink-sac. 



Cuttlefish are far less abundant than Squid in Palk Bay and are 

 not the object of any special fishery, though some are occasionally 



