Southern bobtail squid

Euprymna tasmanica

Cephalopods
IUCN: Data deficient

Usual depth3–4 m
Water temperature14–29 °C
Best monthsJanuary, March, and November
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Christopher Mark, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Christopher Mark · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Euprymna tasmanica, also known as the southern dumpling squid or southern bobtail squid, is a bobtail squid that lives in the shallow temperate coastal waters of southern Australia's continental shelf. It lives for between 5 and 8 months and the adults can grow up to 6 or 7 cm long with a mantle length of 3 to 4 cm. They are found in seagrass beds or areas with soft silty or muddy bottoms from Brisbane on the east coast to Shark Bay on the west, as well as around Tasmania. Southern dumpling squid are nocturnal and during the day hide in sand or mud covered in a mucus-lined coat of sediment. If disturbed acid glans can quickly remove this coat as an additional decoy to ink squirting.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Euprymna tasmanica”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 87 records
February: 46 records
March: 82 records
April: 58 records
May: 69 records
June: 66 records
July: 50 records
August: 47 records
September: 63 records
October: 50 records
November: 86 records
December: 48 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 3–4 m · Deepest record: 142 m

0–10 m: 103 records
10–20 m: 1 records
20–30 m: 2 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 2 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 1 records
110+ m: 3 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 14–29 °C

12–14 °C: 8 records
14–16 °C: 142 records
16–18 °C: 29 records
18–20 °C: 56 records
20–22 °C: 25 records
22–24 °C: 15 records
24–26 °C: 4 records
26–28 °C: 1 records
28–30 °C: 1 records

Photos

(c) Christopher Mark, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Christopher Mark, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Zara, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lawrence Hylton, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Niki Hubbard, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Lawrence Hylton, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Southern bobtail squid, Southern Bobtail, southern bobtail squid, Southern Dumpling Squid

Names in 4 more languages

German: Südliche Stummelschwanz-Sepie
Spanish: globito de Tasmania
French: sépiole du Tasmanie
Japanese: タスマニアミミイカ

Other scientific names: Inioteuthis tasmanica, Sepiola tasmanica

Similar species

Double-ear bobtail
Euprymna berryi
Hawaiian Bobtail
Euprymna scolopes
Bobtail squid
Euprymna hyllebergi
Globito mimika
Euprymna morsei
Euprymna stenodactyla
Butterfly Bobtail
Lusepiola birostrata

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
415 open-data records from 1885 to 2015.
Species data updated November 2, 2026.

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