Sepiolida

Sepiolida is an order of small cephalopods commonly known as bobtail squid and bottletail squid, distinguished from cuttlefish by their rounder mantles, absence of a cuttlebone, and eight suckered arms plus two tentacles. The order is divided into the families Sepiolidae (bobtail squid, roughly seventy species) and Sepiadariidae (bottletail squid), and its members typically measure only one to eight centimeters in mantle length. They inhabit shallow coastal waters across the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, including waters near South Africa Cape Peninsula. Sepiolid taxonomy within the broader coleoid cephalopods remains controversial and subject to revision.