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Abralia Gray 1849

Richard E. Young and Kotaro Tsuchiya
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The genus contains the following 19 nominal species.
Containing group: Enoploteuthidae

Introduction

Species of Abralia are small squid some of which are associated with shallow bottoms on steep slopes and as such are members of the mesopelagic-boundary fauna.

Brief diagnosis: 

An enoploteuthid ... 

Characteristics

From Young, et al., 1998.
  1. Arms
    1. Arm suckers present distally on Arms IV.

  2. Tentacles
    1. Manus of club with one series of hooks; two series of suckers.

  3. Buccal crown
    1. Typical chromatophores on oral surfaces.

  4. Photophores
    1. Enlarged photophores on tips of arms IV generally absent; if present, not covered by black chromatophores.
    2. Five to twelve photophores on each eye.
    3. Complex photophores of integument without red-colored filters.

Comments

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Figure. Ventral view of arm IV integumental photophores of A. trigonura, off Hawaii. Photograph by R. Young.

In life, the integumental photophores have a characteristic appearance. The photo shows the three types of integumental photophores. A "lensed" photophore (white arrow) has a blue color and white ring. A "simple" photophore (black arraow) is small and violet-colored. The remaining are "complex" photophores and have a central green color and small "satellite" green-color points. Often complex photophores will appear blue rather than green depending on their physiological state (see Young and Arnold, 1982). The black dots are chromatophores.

The structure of a complex photophore can be seen here. 

Discussion of Phylogenetic Relationships

The genus is often divided into a number of subgenera (see Nesis, 1982; Tsuchiya and Okutani, 1988). However, a cladistic analysis which might provide a more objective view of species relationships has not been attempted.

References

Nesis, K. N. 1982. Abridged key to the cephalopod mollusks of the world's ocean. 385+ii pp. Light and Food Industry Publishing House, Moscow. (In Russian.). Translated into English by B. S. Levitov, ed. by L. A. Burgess (1987), Cephalopods of the world. T. F. H. Publications, Neptune City, NJ, 351pp.

Tsuchiya, K. and T. Okutani. 1988. Subgenera of Enoploteuthis, Abralia and Abraliopsis of the squid family Enoploteuthidae (Cephalopoda, Oegopsida). Bulletin of the National Science Museum, Tokyo (series A) 14: 119-136.

Young, R. E. and J. M. Arnold. 1982. The functional morphology of a ventral photophore from the mesopelagic squid, Abralia trigonura. Malacologia 23: 135-183.

Young, R. E., L. A. Burgess, C. F. E. Roper, M. J. Sweeney and S. J. Stephen. 1998. Classification of the Enoploteuthidae, Pyroteuthidae and Ancistrocheiridae. Smithsonian Contr. to Zoology, No. 586.

Title Illustrations
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Scientific Name Abralia veranyi
Location Bahamas
Comments collected by submersible
Image Use creative commons This media file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0.
Copyright © 1996
About This Page

Richard E. Young
University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA


Tokyo University of Fisheries, Tokyo, Japan

Page: Tree of Life Abralia Gray 1849. Authored by Richard E. Young and Kotaro Tsuchiya. The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

Citing this page:

Young, Richard E. and Kotaro Tsuchiya. 2008. Abralia Gray 1849. Version 23 April 2008 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Abralia/19642/2008.04.23 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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