WhenToDive
Invertebrate · 🦑

Giant Australian Cuttlefish

Sepia apama

The giant Australian cuttlefish is the largest cuttlefish in the world, but what makes it a travel destination is the annual aggregation at Whyalla in South Australia. From May through August, tens of thousands of cuttlefish converge on a shallow rocky stretch of the Upper Spencer Gulf to mate, display, and die. Males flash constantly through the colour and pattern repertoire for which cephalopods are famous. Nowhere else in the world hosts a cuttlefish gathering of this scale. Outside aggregation season, individual animals are seen throughout southern Australian waters year-round.

The giant Australian cuttlefish is the largest cuttlefish in the world, but what makes it a travel destination is the annual aggregation at Whyalla in South Australia. From May through August, tens of thousands of cuttlefish converge on a shallow rocky stretch of the Upper Spencer Gulf to mate, display, and die. Males flash constantly through the colour and pattern repertoire for which cephalopods are famous. Nowhere else in the world hosts a cuttlefish gathering of this scale. Outside aggregation season, individual animals are seen throughout southern Australian waters year-round.

The year at a glance

Global aggregated reliability — at any given month, how reliably can you find this species somewhere in the world?

Score 1–5 · global aggregated reliability Rare Moderate Reliable

Where to see them in April

Sorted by April reliability and species status.

  1. 01

    Whyalla

    Australia · pacific · peak
    2/5

Full season breakdown

Peak Present Rare

Destination
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Notes
Whyalla
Mass aggregation; the only such event known in the world