Histioteuthis meleagroteuthis (Chun 1910)

Introduction

Material of Histioteuthis meleagroteuthis examined by Voss et al. (1998) and earlier workers cited therein found no indication of population differentiation over the broad geographical, but interrupted, range of this species. However some variation in the sucker enlargement pattern of the club is a possible exception. Additional squid are needed to evaluate the latter. Also, descriptions of spermatophores from different geographical regions are needed.

Diagnosis

A Histioteuthis ...

• with 8-10 series of photophores on arm IV.
• with tubercules.

Characteristics

1. Arms
   1. Tubercules form serrate ridge along aboral midline proximally on arms I-III. on middorsal line on anterior 1/2-2/3 of mantle beneath epithelium and on proximal half of arms I-III.
2. Mantle
   1. Tubercules form serrate ridge along middorsal line on anterior 1/2-2/3 of mantle beneath epithelium and on proximal half of arms I-III.

Comments

Species of the meleagroteuthis-group are distinguished by the following characteristics:

1. Photophores
   1. In 8-10 series on arm IV base.
   2. Usually 19-22 photophores on right eyelid.
   3. Compound photophores of uniform size, small and densely packed on anterior 3/4 of ventral mantle.

H. meleagroteuthis is easily separated from the other member of the meleagroteuthis-group, H. heteropsis, by the presence of tubercles.

The above information is taken from Voss (1969) and Voss, et al. (1998).

Life History

Distribution

Geographical distribution

Type locality: South Pacific, north of New Zealand at 35°45'S, 176°20'E, 549-686 m depth.

H. meleagroteuthis has been taken throughout much of the world's tropical and subtropical waters. However, it appears to be absent from the oligotrophic subtropical waters south of Bermuda, the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic and transitional waters of the California and Peru-Chile currents (habitat occupied by its close relative H. heteropsis) and the northern tropical central waters around Hawaii in the Pacific (Voss, et al., 1998).

image info

Figure. Distribution chart of H. meleagroteuthis, modified from Voss et al., 1998.

References

Voss, N. A. 1969. A monograph of the Cephalopoda of the North Atlantic: The family Histioteuthidae. Bull. Mar. Sci., 19: 713-867.

Voss, N.A., K. N. Nesis, P. G. Rodhouse. 1998. The cephalopod family Histioteuthidae (Oegopsida): Systematics, biology, and biogeography. Smithson. Contr. Zool., 586(2): 293-372.