50cm-long cuttlefish lives in Sentosa waters, named Sophie

Divers may get to see more cuttlefish in the area soon.

Alfie Kwa | November 02, 2021, 11:04 AM

Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

Sophie, a huge cuttlefish, is one of the sea creatures living in the waters off ONE°15 Marina Sentosa Cove.

via Google Maps

via Google Maps

Often encountered by divers, she soon became a regular fixture and crowd favourite in the area for those who head underwater.

Baby cuttlefishes soon?

In a Facebook post on Saturday (Oct. 30), Derlynn Chng, a frequent diver there, said Sophie could be joined by more cuttlefishes in the area soon.

This was after some cuttlefish eggs were spotted on nearby corals.

Sophie the cuttlefish

Chng goes to the dive site off ONE°15 Marina Sentosa Cove once every week and sees Sophie almost every time.

She said she believes that Sophie is a resident in the area, as she and other divers have spotted her consistently over the past month.

It's not difficult to spot Sophie because she's "rather huge", Chng said, and she is always found with an entourage of golden trevallies swimming alongside her.

Sophie with a golden trevally. Image via Moses Lee.

Chng told Mothership the cuttlefish is about 50cm in length and 20cm wide.

Cuttlefish and squid are collectively known as "sotong".

This makes the cuttlefish, Sophie the sotong.

Not just one cuttlefish at the moment

There's another resident cuttlefish named Sophia, who is the same size as Sophie, but doesn't have an entourage when she swims past the divers.

Chng believes that Sophia and Sophie are Sepia latimanus, a species of cuttlefish that is often found near coastal areas.

A must-see for divers

Chng added that she is not the only diver who looks out for the cuttlefish during dives.

Other divers are equally excited to see Sophie and Sophia and often share where they last spotted the two sea creatures.

More cuttlefish soon

The cuttlefish's eggs were found in the corals near the dive site. Image via Derlynn Chng.

On his most recent dive on Oct. 30, Chng said she noticed that the cuttlefish had laid eggs.

Frequent divers have been keeping track of the eggs' weekly progress and hope to catch a glimpse of them when they hatch.

Follow and listen to our podcast here

Top image via Moses Lee & Derlynn Chng