The aim of this guide is to help commercial fishers, scientific observers and recreational fishermen to identify the most common cephalopods (cuttlefish, squid and octopus) caught in Australian fisheries. Logbooks kept by commercial and recreational fishers provide essential information for fisheries research and management; however, for the records to be useful the catch must be correctly identified, especially in any developing fishery.

Malcolm Dunning of Fisheries Group, Department of Primary Industries, Queensland, prepared the tropical sepiid and Photololigo pages, while Vicki Wadley prepared the other sections. The cephalopod specimens for this guide were collected by CSIRO and QDPI scientific staff on commercial and research vessels. They were caught by demersal trawling, jigging and seine netting.

After landing, the freshly dead cephalopods were photographed on the vessels. The cephalopods were then frozen, and later preserved in the laboratory. A single specimen of each species was chosen for illustration in colour. Many squid were badly damaged from trawling and have been illustrated to reflect this. Line drawings, or published illustrations, were used for some species. The specimens have been deposited in the Museum of Victoria, Melbourne, and the CSIRO fish collection in Hobart.