Acanthosepion pharaonis

(Ehrenberg, 1831) · species

image placeholder — illustration coming later

Animalia/Mollusca/Cephalopoda/Sepiida/Sepiidae/Acanthosepion

At a glance

Occurrence records3 089

Data sources10

Biological traits8

DNA specimens3

eDNA detections132

Sources10 archives

Databases and archives Acanthosepion pharaonis's data was compiled from.

WikipediaWikimedia Foundation2 languages↗

BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗

GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility1 746 records↗

OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System1 343 records↗

ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI132 eDNA detections↗

BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics3 specimens↗

GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗

NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗

Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗

GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗

On this page6 sections

Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.

NarrativeWikipediaarticle

Traits & measurements1 literature sources8 traits

Occurrence & distributionGBIF · OBIS3 089 records

Environmental DNA1 datasets · 10 countries132 detections

DNA & barcodingBOLD3 specimens

Genome at a glanceGoaT · NCBI≈4.8 Gbp

01Narrative

The pharaoh cuttlefish (Sepia pharaonis) is a large cuttlefish species, growing to 42 cm in mantle length and 5 kg in weight.Reid, A., P. Jereb, & C.F.E. Roper 2005. Family Sepiidae. In: P. Jereb & C.F.E. Roper, eds. Cephalopods of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of species known to date. Volume 1. Chambered nautiluses and sepioids (Nautilidae, Sepiidae, Sepiolidae, Sepiadariidae, Idiosepiidae and Spirulidae). FAO Species Catalogue for Fishery Purposes. No. 4, Vol. 1. Rome, FAO. pp. 57–152. It is also known as seiche pharaon. Sepia pharaonis is likely a complex of at least three species, Sepia pharaonis I, commonly located in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, S. pharaonis II, located from Japan to the Gulf of Thailand and northern Australia; and S. pharaonis III, located from the Indian Ocean to the Andaman Sea. The type specimen was collected in the Gulf of Suez and is deposited at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin.Current Classification of Recent Cephalopoda.Sepia pharaonis photographed off Egypt

No narrative description available for this taxon yet.

02Traits & measurements

SourcesSeaLifeBase

Size & morphology2

Body length43 cm

Body mass5 000 g

Habitat & environment2

Habitat saltwateryes

Habitat zonebenthic

Uses & economy1

Commercial importancecommercial

Other traits3

Depth max130 m

Depth min0 m

Vulnerability33

05DNA & barcoding3 specimens

A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Acanthosepion pharaonis has left across the world's sequence archives.

At a glance

DNA specimens3

BINs2

Marker genes1

eDNA detections132

Countries10

The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen

COI-5P563 bp consensus3 specimens

ACGT

▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies

Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 89% of positions are identical in every specimen.

Diversity (π)7.2%

Haplotypes2

BINs2

Most divergent pair9.9%

Where individuals differ — all 61 variable positions, in barcode order

7Tvariable

16Tvariable

22Tvariable

28Gvariable

46Gvariable

64Cvariable

65Cvariable

83Tvariable

100Avariable

109Tvariable

112Gvariable

127Cvariable

130Tvariable

131Tvariable

154Tvariable

157Tvariable

169Avariable

175Tvariable

178Tvariable

185Cvariable

190Tvariable

193Avariable

239Tvariable

244Cvariable

247Cvariable

256Cvariable

257Tvariable

286Tvariable

295Avariable

307Avariable

313Tvariable

328Tvariable

331Cvariable

334Tvariable

349Cvariable

355Cvariable

361Gvariable

379Cvariable

380Cvariable

391Tvariable

401Cvariable

406Avariable

409Avariable

418Tvariable

421Tvariable

430Cvariable

445Avariable

466Tvariable

487Tvariable

502Cvariable

505Tvariable

509Tvariable

523Avariable

529Tvariable

535Cvariable

544Tvariable

547Avariable

551Cvariable

554Tvariable

558Cvariable

562Cvariable

ATCAGGTTTATTAGGTACATCTTTAAGGTTAATAATCCGTAGAGAGTTAGGTAAACCTGGAACCCTATTAAATGATGATCAATTATATAA …

Closest relatives by DNA barcode

The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.

Sepiola intermediasame order14.6%Pyroteuthis margaritiferasame order14.6%Sepietta obscurasame order14.7%Sepiolina nipponensissame order14.9%Sepia berthelotisame family14.9%

Marker genes sequenced

★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.

★COI-5P

animal barcode

Organelle genome

Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.

▸ Tap any coloured segment — or a gene chip — to see what it is

Mitochondrion

NC_021146 ↗ · 13 protein · 22 tRNA · 2 rRNA

COX3ND2COX1COX2ATP8ATP6ND1ND3ND5ND4ND4LCYTBND6rrnLrrnS

◖ violet arc = the COI-5P barcode — the ~650 bp read used to ID this species

Pick a coloured segment on the ring — or a gene chip — to read what that gene does.

protein-codingrRNAtRNA

06Genome at a glanceGoaT · NCBI

The complete instruction manual Acanthosepion pharaonis carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.

Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is

Genome size≈4 785 531 890 bp assembly estimate

Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).

BACTERIUM Carsonella ruddii0.00016 Gb

FUNGUS0.04 Gb

INSECT0.25 Gb

HUMAN3.2 Gb

THIS GENOME Acanthosepion pharaonis4.79 Gb

WHEAT17 Gb

FERN Tmesipteris160.45 Gb

Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers

Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.

Assembly levelContig

Completeness74.4% BUSCO

07Deep time~90 Ma lineage

How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.

At a glance

DNA clock origin90 Ma TimeTree

When this lineage existed

How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard periods (Jurassic, Cretaceous…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. The dashed rules marked ✦ are the five great mass extinctions. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.

DNA clock originmass extinction

08Occurrence & distribution

Record type3 089 records

Wild obs. + sensor2 451

Museum / vouchered638

Range

Area of Occupancy AOO3 316 km²

Depth

0–200 m sunlit991

200–1000 m twilight0

1–4 km midnight0

>4 km abyssal0

median 59 m · max 117.5 m · 991 records with depth

Wildobservation + sensor

Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.

Coordinate accuracy95% within 1 km

≤100 m 1 667≤1 km 314≤10 km 76>10 km 38

2 095 georeferenced · 356 without coordinates

Open the mapobservation + sensor2 451

Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence

Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.

Coordinate accuracy51% within 1 km

≤100 m 5≤1 km 145≤10 km 133>10 km 12

295 georeferenced · 343 without coordinates

Open the institutions mapphysical evidence638

Wildobservation + sensor

Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.

10Collections & institutions

Holding institutions5 of 12 geolocated

Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.

Institution	Specimens
Museums Victorialocation not on record	235
Sydney, AU	54
DEWlocation not on record	48
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territorylocation not on record	26
Western Australian Museumlocation not on record	22
DOI/NPS, Salem Maritime National Historic Sitelocation not on record	9
Brussels, BE	3
RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record	3
Cantablocation not on record	2
Cambridge, US	1
Philadelphia, US	1
Natick, US	1

12 institutions · 405 of 638 vouchered records shown · 9 without an institution code

09Environmental DNA132 detections

Where the DNA of Acanthosepion pharaonis was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.

Signal

Detections DNA found132

Studies independent surveys1

Countries10

Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections

Where its DNA was found

0 of 132 detections have coordinates

Open the map10 countries0

How strong is each trace?

DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.

Modelled climatemodelled

−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C

Temperature median25.1 °C 21.5–27.6

Seasonal swing summer↔winter16.5 °C

Max temp (day)30.5 °C 25.2–31.9

Min temp (night)19.3 °C 13.9–23.6

Precipitation109 mm/mo 2.00–137

Air humidity52.0 % 43.4–60.1

Moisture balance-17.8 mm/mo -143–-8.90

Vapour deficit1,616 Pa 1,052–1,940

Wind speed2.20 m/s 1.80–5.00

Cloud cover25.2 % 16.6–39.5

CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 62 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche

How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.

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Acanthosepion pharaonis

At a glance

Sources10 archives

Size & morphology2

Habitat & environment2

Uses & economy1

Other traits3

At a glance

Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is

Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers

At a glance

When this lineage existed

Record type3 089 records

Range

Depth

Wildobservation + sensor

Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence

Wildobservation + sensor

Holding institutions5 of 12 geolocated

Signal

Where its DNA was found

How strong is each trace?

Modelled climatemodelled

Record type3 089 records