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Taningia Joubin, 1931

Taningia danae Joubin, 1931

Richard E. Young and Michael Vecchione
A single species in recognized in the genus.
Containing group: Octopoteuthidae

Introduction

This species reaches a maximum of 170 cm ML (Nesis, 1981/87). In Taningia tentacles are reduced to minute appendages in young subadults and are absent in adults. The second arms carry large, lidded photophores at the arm tips.

 image info

Figure. Dorsolateral view of T. danae, 60 mm ML, Hawaiian waters. Photograph by R.Young.

Diagnosis

An octopoteuthid ...

Characteristics

 
  1. Tentacles
    1. Reduced to minute appendages in young subadults.
  2. Photophores
    1. Tips of Arms II modified into broad photophores with muscular lids. 
     image info

    Figure. Aboral views of a large arm II photophore of T. danae. Left - The arm tip photophore with the lids closed. Right - Double photographic exposure that shows the lids withdrawn revealing the white surface of the photophore overlaying a second exposure with the lids closed. Photographs by R. Young and C. Roper.

Comments

The visceral photophores are very hard to locate in preserved specimens.

Nomenclature

O. persica Naef, 1923 is a paralarva of Taningia (Young, 1972), presumably, T. danae.

Behavior

Roper and Vecchione (1993) reported observations on bioluminescence in a 60 mm ML squid from Hawaiian waters. When disturbed, Taningia would attack and repeatedly flash the arm-tip photophores. The flash duration was generally only a fraction of a second; however on some occasions the arm tip glowed for periods of about 1-7 seconds. The aggressive flashing behavior is presumably used to startle predators via a mock attack. In addition, the visceral photophores were observed to glow for periods in excess of 15 min. and produced a general ventral glow. This latter behavior is suggestive of a counterillumination function (Roper and Vecchione, 1993). The photograph below left shows the squid on which these observations were made. The chromatophores are contracted on the midventral mantle skin which leaves a "window" for bioluminescent light from the viscera to emerge. The reflective photophores can be seen as a white streak. The photograph, below right, is from a different specimen that has the mantle cut open showing the visceral photophores.

 image info  image info

Figure. Left - Ventral view of T. danae, 60 mm ML squid, Hawaiian waters. Right - Ventral view of visceral photophores of T. danae seen through a cut in the ventral mantle. Photographs by R. Young and C. Roper.

Life History

The paralarva is distinctive in having enlarged suckers on the thick tentacles and the tips of arms II swollen by the developing photophores.

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Figure. Ventral view of the head of a paralarval T. danae, Hawaiian waters, mantle was misssing. Drawing by R. Young.

 image info image info

Figure. Dorsal and oral views of a paralarva of T. danae, Gulf of Aden, 4.7 mm ML. Drawings from Chun, 1910. This is the paralarva that Naef (1923) named Octopodoteuthopsis persica.

The juvenile T. danae (photographs below) can be quite translucent although the armtip photophores are heavily pigmented. The eyes are large, and the central brain and optic lobes (yellow) occupy a posterior position in the head, leaving a long anterior esophagus passing to the buccal mass.

 image info  image info

Figure. Ventral (left) and dorsal-oblique views of a juvenile T. danae, ca. 10-20 mm ML, Hawaiian waters. Photograph by R. Young.

Distribution

The type locality is off the Cape Verde Islands. The distribution includes the tropical and temperate regions of all oceans and boreal waters of the North Atlantic (Roper and Vecchione, 1993).

References

Chun, C. 1910. Die Cephalopoden. Oegopsida. Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Deutschen Tiefsee-Expedition, "Valdivia" 1898-1899, 18: 1-522 + Atlas.

Naef, A. (1921/23). Cephalopoda. Fauna und Flora des Golfes von Neapel. Monograph, no. 35. English translation: A. Mercado (1972). Israel Program for Scientific Translations Ltd., Jerusalem, Israel. 863pp., IPST Cat. No. 5110/1,2.

Nesis, K. N. 1982/87. 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.

Roper, C. F. E. and M. Vecchione. 1993. A geographic and taxonomic review of Taningia danae Joubin, 1931 (Cephalopoda: Octopoteuthidae), with new records and observations on bioluminescence. P. 441-456. In:: T. Okutani, R. K. O'Dor and T. Kubodera (eds.). The Recent Advances in Cephalopod Fishery Biology. Tokai University Press. Tokyo.

Young, R. E. 1972. The systematics and areal distribution of pelagic cephalopods from the seas off Southern California. Smithson. Contr. Zool., 97: 1-159.

Title Illustrations
Scientific Name Taningia danae
Reference from Roper, C. F. E. and M. Vecchione. 1993. A geographic and taxonomic review of Taningia danae Joubin, 1931 (Cephalopoda: Octopoteuthidae), with new records and observations on bioluminescence. P. 441-456. In: T. Okutani, R. K. O'Dor and T. Kubodera (eds.). The Recent Advances in Cephalopod Fishery Biology. Tokai University Press. Tokyo.
Specimen Condition Dead Specimen
Size 106 cm ML
Copyright ©
About This Page

Richard E. Young

Dept of Oceanography
University of Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii 96822
USA



National Marine Fisheries Service
Systematics Laboratory
National Museum of Natural History
Washington, D. C. 20560
USA

Citing this page:

Young, Richard E. and Vecchione, Michael. 1999. Taningia Joubin, 1931. Taningia danae Joubin, 1931. Version 01 January 1999 (complete). http://tolweb.org/Taningia_danae/19840/1999.01.01 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

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