Cuttlefish bone
Os sepiae
- Known today as
- The chalky internal shell of the cuttlefish, washed up on beaches.
- Kind
- Animal, in 1 older authority
- Constituents
- calcium carbonate, chitin, organic matrix
- Earliest authority here
- Dioscorides (c. AD 40–90)
Cuttlefish bone: what was it used for?
Powdered, as a tooth powder, for spots on the eyes, and as an absorbent for the stomach.
Cuttlefish bone: what does modern science say?
Mostly calcium carbonate; it is given to caged birds for the calcium. It is an ingredient in Chinese medicine.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- calcium carbonate ChEMBLaragonite, 85–90 per cent
- chitin
- organic matrix
- Mechanism
- An antacid and a mild abrasive, which is the tooth powder; the “spots on the eyes” use was abrasion of a corneal scar, a practice that would do harm. Its porous aragonite is converted to hydroxyapatite in the laboratory as a bone-graft scaffold.
- Toxic dose
- Inert.
- Standing
- Sold for cage birds; a research biomaterial.
- Rocha, J. H. G., et al. (2005). “Scaffolds for bone restoration from cuttlefish.” Bone 37. Verified against its record · doi:10.1016/j.bone.2005.06.018
The abstract of each source, beneath its citation. For Club members. About the Club or sign in.
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Cuttlefish bone: what did the older authorities say?
- Dioscorides
- Gives the burnt bone for the teeth and to clean the eyes.
Sources
- Dioscorides, De materia medica. Read in part · the text read
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Sources
- 2 cited: 1 read in part, 1 verified against its record. 1 with the abstract on file.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 30, 2026
- Chicago
“Cuttlefish bone.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified September 30, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cuttlefish-bone.
- MLA
“Cuttlefish bone.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 30 Sept. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cuttlefish-bone. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Cuttlefish bone. (2026, September 30). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cuttlefish-bone
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See Also
Sharing calcium carbonate, chitin, organic matrix
Olive-wood ash lye · Crabs’ eyes · Pearls, prepared · Corallium rubrum · Woodlouse
Also in Dioscorides
Feverfew in Dioscorides · Crow’s gall in Dioscorides · Frankincense in Dioscorides · Comfrey in Dioscorides · everything Dioscorides names →
Drawing on the same sources: Dioscorides
Nearby in the alphabet
Cyclamen, greater (Cyclamen purpurascens or C) · Cumin (Cuminum cyminum) · Cyclosporin fungus (A soil fungus) · Cubeb (a Javanese pepper whose berries keep a little stalk, like a tail) · Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) · Crucifix (The image of Christ on the Cross) · Cyprus powder (a perfumed toilet powder)
Historical description, not medical advice.