the coastal-bottom cuttlefish (species of
Sepia) and open-ocean squid (species of
Loligo, Todarodes, Ilex) have short arms and
two long tentacles.
The anatomy of the squid mantle. This main
portion of the squid body consists of an
envelope of muscle that propels the animal by
contracting and squeezing water through a
small opening. The mantle muscle is built up
from tough connective tissue and alternating
rings of muscle fibers, some oriented across
the mantle wall and some along it.
Cephalopod Texture The muscle fibers of
squid and octopus are extremely thin — less
than a tenth the diameter of a typical fiber in a
fish or steer (0.004 mm, vs. 0.05–0.1 mm) —
which makes the flesh dense and fine-