Under Construction

Abralia multihamata Sasaki 1929

Kotaro Tsuchiya and Richard E. Young
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Containing group: Abralia

Introduction

A. multihamata is a species endemic to the shelf waters along the south of Sagami Bay, Japan to Taiwan and off Papua New Guinea. It is characterized by the scattered arrangement of ventral mantle photophores, six club hooks, and more than five eye photophores of two types. The taxonomic status with A. spaercki is problematic.

Sasaki's specimens  of A. multihamata ranged from 25-32 mm ML. Voss (1963) described A. lucens from specimens that ranged from 43-62 mm ML.  The title illustrations show a 35 mm ML A. multihamata and a 62 mm ML A. lucens. The two look very different.  Tsuchiya and Okutani (1988) suggest this difference is due to growth and A. lucens is included here as a junior synonym of A. multihamata. This status, however, needs confirmation.

Brief diagnosis:

An Abralia (Abralia) without ...

Characteristics

  1. Tentacle club
    1. About six hooks on ventral side.
    2. Two rows of large suckers on dorsal side.
    Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
    Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

    Figure. Oral view of the tentacular club of A. multihamata, Sagami Bay. Drawing from Tsuchiya (2000).

  2. Hectocotylus
    1. Right ventral arm of male hectocotylized.
    2. Hectocotylus with two different-sized offset flaps.
    Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
    Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

    Figure. Oral view of the distal portion of the hectocotylus of A. multihamata, Sagami Bay. Drawing from Tsuchiya (2000).

  3. Eye Photophores
    1. Five major organs: two large opaque, terminal organs and three intermediate silvery organs; small silvery additional organs present.
    Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
    Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
        

    Figure. Ventrolateral view of the ocular photophores of A. multihamata. Left - male, Japanese waters. Drawing from Sasaki (1929). Right - Sex ?, Solomon Sea off South New Britain. Photograph by Jeffrey Dubosc, SPC.

  4. Integument Photophores
    1. Ventral head with indistinct striped arrangement of integumental organs.
    2. Ventral arms without photophores between medial and lateral arm photophore series.
      Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
      Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
          

      Figure. Ventral view of the head photophores of A. multihamata. Left - male, Japanese waters.Drawing from Sasaki (1929). Right - Sex ?, Solomon Sea off South New Britain. Photograph by Jeffrey Dubosc, SPC.

    3. Ventral mantle with photophores with scattered arrangement of integumental organs but with distinct bare stripe in midline.
      Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
      Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

      Figure. Ventral view of the head photophores of A. multihamata. sex ?, Solomon Sea off South New Britain. The two distinct rows of lensed photophores define the midline bare stripe. Photograph by Jeffrey Dubosc, SPC.

  5. Reproductive structures
    1. Spermatangia receptacles. Receptacles are located underneath the dorsal collar on either side of the nuchal cartilage.  Pigment marking the receptacles is visible through the muscular walls of the collar. Within the collar pocket is an inner muscular (?) lid that carries the pigment seen externally. The spermatangia seem to attach beneath the inner lid where it joins the lateral wall of the nuchal cartilage.
      Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
      Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

      Figure. Spermatangia receptacles of A. multihamata. Left - Dorsal view with the mantle reflected posteriorly showing the collars on either side of the dorsal rim of the nuchal cartilage. The white arrow points to the pigmented inner lid of one of the two receptacles. Right - Dorsolateral view with one collar cut and its dorsal portion folded upward (and impaled by a dissecting pin) revealing the edge of the inner lid and the spermatangia beneath it which seem to be encased in a mucous mass.

Comments.

A. multihamata is very similiar to A. spaercki but lacks the scattered photophores in the proximal half of each arm IV found between the medial and lateral (not lateral membrane) photophore series and lacks the single, large white photophore found in the funnel groove posteromedial to each first occipital lobe in A. spaercki.

Life history

Spent specimens are collected in large number from the East China Sea in October by bottom trawl.

Distribution

Vertical distribution

A. multihamata is possibly bottom associated or mesopelagic boundary species. Specimens were collected by bottom trawl from the East China Sea.

Geographical distribution

This species was first described from Taiwan waters. It is distributed in shelf waters of the East China Sea, northward to Sagami Bay and the eastern sector of the Japan Sea. It is also found in the South Pacific off Papua New Guinea.

References

Sasaki, M. 1929. A Monograph of the Dibranchiate Cephalopods of the Japanese and Adjacent Waters. Journal of the College of Agriculture, Hokkaido Imperial University,357 pp.

Tsuchiya, K. 2000. Illustrated book of the Enoploteuthidae. In: Okutani T., ed. True face of Watasenia scintillans. Tokai University Press, Tokyo, p 196–269. (in Japanese)

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.

Voss, G.L. 1963. Cephalopods of the Philippine Islands. United States National Museum Bulletin, 234:1-180.

Title Illustrations
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Scientific Name Abralia multihamata
Location Sagami Bay, Japan
Reference Sasaki, M. 1929. A Monograph of the Dibranchiate Cephalopods of the Japanese and Adjacent Waters. Journal of the College of Agriculture, Hokkaido Imperial University,357 pp.
Sex Male
Life Cycle Stage Mature
View Ventral
Size 35 mm ML
Scientific Name Abralia lucens =? A. multihamata
Location Philippine waters
Creator N. Voss via G. Voss
Acknowledgements Voss, G.L. 1963. Cephalopods of the Philippine Islands. United States National Museum Bulletin, 234:1-180.
Sex Female
View Ventral
Size 62 mm ML
Type Holotype
About This Page


Tokyo University of Fisheries, Tokyo, Japan


University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Richard E. Young at

Page: Tree of Life Abralia multihamata Sasaki 1929. Authored by Kotaro Tsuchiya and Richard E. Young. 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:

Tsuchiya, Kotaro and Richard E. Young. 2015. Abralia multihamata Sasaki 1929. Version 11 October 2015 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Abralia_multihamata/19658/2015.10.11 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

edit this page
close box

This page is a Tree of Life Leaf Page.

Each ToL leaf page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of a group of organisms representing a leaf at the tip of the Tree of Life. The major distinction between a leaf and a branch of the Tree of Life is that a leaf cannot generally be further subdivided into subgroups representing distinct genetic lineages.

For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

close box

Abralia multihamata

Page Content

articles & notes

collections

people

Explore Other Groups

random page

  go to the Tree of Life home page
top