A hungry dolphin knows
That cuttlefish are sweet
But the chalky cuttlebone
Is not the thing to eat
Gripped in narrow jaws
It is thrashed from side to side
Until the chalky bone
Breaks through the slimy hide
To float upon the sea
And wash up on the shore
Where pock-marked cuttlebones
Gather by the score
The beach north of Tickera is strewn with cuttlebones. And almost all of them bear the imprint of the toothy predators of the Upper Spencer Gulf. The slow-moving and sweet fleshed cuttlefish makes a wonderful meal but no-one wants a bellyful of chalky cuttlebone, Most of the bones have been pocked by dolphins with their distinctive narrow jaws and sharp peg teeth. Cuttlebones are not very robust and are not going to persist for long on the beach so large numbers of pocked cuttlebones indicate a high level of predation by dolphins.
